Being still and being filled

Be still and know that I am God.  Psalm 46:10

This is such a famous verse, and we often repeat it as a mantra, as though somehow, by simply being quiet, we will know God's plan for our lives and somehow have all the answers without having to do anything more.  But does it work that way?  I don't really think so.  It hasn't worked that way for me, anyway.

Jesus was a busy guy.  He traveled around constantly preaching and reaching out to the crowds.  And people pulled at him, grabbed at him, reached out to him, literally sucking the life from him.  It must have been exhausting to live his life, with nowhere to escape, nowhere to call home, no single place to consistently lay his head and find peace with his comfy chair and his fireplace and his dog at his side.  Sounds like a total nightmare to me, anyway.

What he did have, though, was prayer, and he did consistently make time for that, especially before big events in his ministry.  He stepped aside, he stepped out of the chaos, he stepped away.  You see it often throughout his ministry - this time of refreshment through communion with God, a recharge of faith and energy and renewal by bringing his weariness to the source of all life.

I think Lent should be a reminder for us to do the same.  People often express intimidation in prayer.  But when we talk to God, it is a conversation, and it starts with us simply opening our hearts to him.  There is no format or "right" way to do it, you just do you.  Prayer is an opportunity to share our life, our worries and our joys with God.  We can celebrate what is good, share our burdens and our fears, and find guidance about what is ahead through our conversation with him.  There is solace to be found in the silence of prayer space (even if it is said out loud,) where we allow God to fill us.  That is knowing God.  That is how I want to know God.