be still and know

"Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." ~Psalm 46:10

"You can't control the life in you.  It grows and emerges in its own time.  Be patient and nurture it with all your love and attentiveness.  Be still and cooperate with the mystery God is unfolding in you." ~Sue Monk Kidd

We are born manufacturers.  In the absence of something organically growing within or around us, we will jump right in and try to make it, or force it, to happen on our own.  But the kingdom of God rarely works that way.  The kingdom is about fruitfulness not productivity.  A product is something we produce, but fruitfulness is something only God can bring about.  When Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing," he really meant it.  So why do we keep on trying?

Life with God is much more about waiting than it is about forcing.  It is much more about being still and knowing he is God than it is about running around like chickens with our heads cut off.  It is much more about creating space for the Spirit to speak, move and act, than it is about inserting ourselves and our thoughts, observations, and opinions into situations and conversations.  Getting folks, as well as ourselves, to be still and cooperate with the mystery God is unfolding in them seems like a much more fruitful path than manufacturing, forcing, and exerting. 

Maybe it's time for "Be still and know that I am God" to not just be something we pray, but something we actually do.