Be still and know

"Be still and know that I am God," the Psalmist says. That's a tall order for me most days. But last week camping in Big Bend, it was easy. The silence in the Chisos Mountains campground was like listening to God's heartbeat. I felt surrounded by the silence like a warm embrace. Here in my ordinary life, I am blessed with a good bit of silence, and I've learned I need that for my soul's health. The time in the mountains was different somehow. I found myself simply enjoying sitting and being for a time. One of my favorite seminary professors said once that "it's hard to hear God's voice in a place such as this," i.e. the world in which we live. In the Chisos Mountains it was easier. I felt God's presence all around us. I also found reading the Psalms to be a different experience, more immediate perhaps, as we lived in a tent and hiked the mountains. I think perhaps living in circumstances more like those of the psalmist made the words more powerful. This was our first visit to Big Bend out in West Texas, and we will go back. I'm trying to hold onto the silence and memory of God's presence as I reenter daily life here, for daily life is where I'm called to serve God most of the time.

Grace and Peace,
Donna Sue