Be still....

When I started writing these daily thoughts several years ago, it was a Lenten exercise designed to honor Christ for his sacrifice by remembering the many things for which I am grateful.  It is easy to focus on the negatives in life, but for most people, life is filled with good things, if only we stop to consider.  But some days I find writing harder than others.  Some days inspiration is missing.  Sometimes, I am just sort of blank.  Today was one of those days, and I couldn't come up with anything this morning that seemed worth putting into words.

I resigned myself to missing this day, and figured inspiration would come tomorrow.  But it dawned on me, while driving home from work, just how grateful I feel for the quiet stillness of my home, and how very much I look forward to it each evening after work.  The barking of the dog is the only noise, and that is soon stilled when I let him out of his kennel.  It is a haven from the world, my little castle, so to speak, and I am so grateful to be able to find the peace I crave each evening in the comfort of my dwelling.

I was thinking of Psalm 46:10 as I drove home from work tonight.

He said, "Be still and know that I am God...."

That is what God wants from us.  To simply be still and focus on him.  It is so little to ask, and yet so hard for us to do.  It is all too easy to get wrapped up in the stuff of daily living - making dinner, doing laundry, homework, television, exercising - whatever we do in our off hours.

But the most important thing we can do each day is take time for God.  Talk to him.  Throw our cares to him and allow him to carry the burden for us.  Finding our gratitude for everything that went right in the day, instead of holding on to what has gone wrong.  Putting God at the center of our life, instead of keeping him hanging around the fringes, for whenever we get around to him.

I am grateful for the stillness, which gives me an opportunity to talk to the one who has given me everything.  There is nowhere I would rather be.

Dear Lord, thank you for listening to the words of my heart in the midst of the silence each day.  Amen.