Just STOP!

I told a friend the other day, that if God gave awards for being busy, she would get first place! She jokingly replied, “He doesn’t?” I think that is the way many people envision God – as the taskmaster that is keeping score and we measure our success by our level of exhaustion. We somehow feel that filling our calendar and over-extending ourselves is much more righteous than spending time at the feet of Jesus, honoring Him with our presence and our attentiveness to His Spirit connecting with us, speaking to us, directing our days.

I have come to realize, sometime in this past decade, that busyness is a toxic form of idolatry. Our calendar is our idol and the more it is filled with our color-coded activities, the more false contentment we find until we literally become a slave to activity, trapped in a world we can’t find our way out of. We confuse serving others with serving God. Those are two totally different things.

Here’s an observation that I hope you will ponder long and hard. God doesn’t need YOU to get things done. He is GOD, for heaven’s sake! He is all powerful and all-knowing and all-wise and will get things done with you or without you. BUT, He made you for a purpose and wants to use you for that task. The only way to determine what that task is, is to STOP and listen. I totally get praying while folding laundry and praying while driving or doing dishes. I get starting the day saying good morning to God and ending it with a prayer of thanksgiving for another day. Those are great practices. But, they don’t stop you in your tracks and cause you to simply quiet your soul and LISTEN.

Friend, there is power in finding stillness in your life. It is in the quiet that God’s truth begins to over-ride the lies we have believed about who we are. We discover ourselves and our gifts and our purpose as we meditate, actively listening for God to speak to our soul. The psalmist says it well:

“Be still and know that I am God.”

Psalm 46:10

He follows that with something we seldom read… “I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” Are you catching that? God isn’t honored by our activity, but by our stillness. It is in the quiet that we submit to Him, allowing Him to transform us into His image and that is what will ultimately bring Him honor.

Now, let’s bring that home. How does stillness before God look in our culture where we run our families ragged (or they run us ragged)? How can we make the active decision to be less active in a culture that applauds activity? Discerning the right activities and placing limits on the amount of time we are willing to invest in extra-curricular activities is key. Learn to take a stand and not allow so much “go” that there is not time to “grow.” If there is no time to talk about how God is working in your life and in your home, then something needs to go! Period! You are the one who has been given the responsibility to make sure that your kids know God and if you don’t have time to honor Him in your home, you are failing the most important test for a parent. It isn’t about being at every practice or being in every sport or helping every elderly neighbor. Showing them God involves teaching them to meditate and ask questions and sit silently waiting and listening. It is taking time to discuss daily the attributes of God with them in an age appropriate way. I recommend starting when they are too young to understand you. Develop that habit in yourself and keep it going throughout their lives.

Finally, let me add that God is described in many ways throughout scripture, but my favorite is GOD IS LOVE. So if I find that I am not a reflection of His love; that I am easily angered; that I am jealous or prideful; that I am resentful; that I am judging; that I am not listening well… I know that I am in desperate need of more time, sitting quietly in His presence, being shaped in LOVE. It is there that He holds up the mirror and shows me the dark places where He needs to shine His light and bring about transformation. Your spirit is the true litmus test of your godliness. When you are struggling with any attitude or behavior that isn’t LOVE personified, STOP! BE STILL! And reconnect in quietness and meditation, allowing Him to shape you into His image of LOVE and show you how to slow down and grow up.