Week 6. Day 7 – Be Still

One God. Above all. Through All. In All.

 “Be still and know that I am God!
 I am exalted among the nations
 I am exalted in the earth.”
 The Lord of hosts is with us;
 The God of Jacob is our refuge.
 Psalm 46:10-11 

My words will not come;
 unable to speak.
  My heart is too full of grief
 too void of hope.
I try to read prayers in sacred books,
but the thoughts are too distance,
belonging to someone else.
I try to sing the hymns I love,
               but tones are stuck in my throat.
 
Locked within an internal prison,
I can find no path to escape.
As much as I want to release the pain
by shouting against the heavens,
no path of relief is found.
 
Exhausted, I lie still. 
Too weak to be afraid.  Depleted of will.
Quiet against the raging.
 Quiet instead of raging.
Silence surrounds me,
swells within, becomes home.
 
In the quiet, I begin to hear
the rhythm of my own breath,
the beat of my heart,
the wind through the trees,
the call of a bird. 
My own emptiness allowing room for renewal.
 
Within the hush,
the Holy has room to be heard.
God has space to abide.
Hope has a place to grow.
 
Breathprayer:  
                  Breathing in:               All Praise…
                  Breathing out:             … echoing into the universe.
 
Reflection:   Sit in a quiet place.  How do you hear God’



This reflection was written for the Online Lenten Reflections 2019 for the Southeast Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

www.seiasynod.org