Quieting our lives

Our minds are always bee hives of activity.  We want to be in control.  Yet when we still and quiet our minds, and move into prayer and the quietude of our hearts, then our souls recognize God really is with us.

Here is the way Henri Nouwen puts it:

Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says, "Prove that you are a good person." Another voice says, "You'd better be ashamed of yourself." There also is a voice that says, "Nobody really cares about you," and one that says, "Be sure to become successful, popular, and powerful." But underneath all these often very noisy voices is a still, small voice that says, "You are my Beloved, my favor rests on you." That's the voice we need most of all to hear. To hear that voice, however, requires special effort; it requires solitude, silence, and a strong determination to listen. 

That's what prayer is. It is listening to the voice that calls us "my Beloved."

Stillness

Thousands of years ago, an ancient Hebrew singer, realizing his human limitations, searched his heart and mind and wrote the opening lines of Psalm 62, "For God alone my soul in silence waits." Too often I know how easy it is to slip into the busy actions and cares of life in La Grande. I am sure together we could make a long list of the ways we are distracted. My early morning time in Scripture and in prayer has become ever more critical to my finding spiritual, emotional, and physical rest throughout the day. I need a "still point" where I can listen, wait, and know I am not the center, but that God is.