For Stillness

Life is filled with movement.

From our first breath to our last, we’re moving.

From sunrise to midnight, we’re moving.

We awake to the movement of eyelids.

We fight against movement to fall asleep.

Our feet move us from here to there.

Our minds move us someplace else.

Our hands move that which needs moving.

Our eyes move without ceasing.

Our hearts move blood to our limbs and our brains.

Our brains send orders of what’s to be moved and where.

The earth beneath us is moving.

The moon around our earth is moving.

The clouds above us move with the wind.

The rushing river moves on by.

The oceans move.

The trees move.

Animals move.

Cars move.

People move.

Even mountains move.

But there’s something to be said for stillness.

There’s something appealing about solace.

There’s reason to rest.

There’s merit in meditation.

There’s purpose for peace.

Stillness is too good to pass up.

But movement is the enemy of stillness.

Motion oppresses its opposite.

Try for a moment to be quiet.

Attempt for a minute to be still.

Don’t move anywhere.

Don’t think anything.

Just breathe.

Be still.

Many people can’t.

Many of us are quite incapable of doing this.

Don’t watch TV.

Don’t listen to music.

Don’t reflect on the past.

Don’t plan out the future.

Simply be in the moment.

Have a moment of quiet, of solace, of rest, of peace, of stillness.

It takes practice.

It takes determination.

It requires willpower.

It requires peace.

And that’s a scarce commodity in today’s world.

The price of peace is high.

The stock of stillness is in the gutter.

Today’s world is a dog-eat-dog, king-of-the-hill kind of place.

And he who isn’t moving isn’t succeeding.

Nobody’s buying into stillness.

No one thinks twice about cutting movement out of their day.

But they should.

There’s power in stillness.

He who can be still is strong of heart.

He who can be still knows peace.

He who can be still finds solace.

And he who can be still has something that the moving man doesn’t.

He has perspective.

He has clarity.

He has rest.

He has wisdom.

Perhaps the world itself can’t stop moving.

The moon won’t stop moving around the earth.

The clouds won’t stop moving over the earth.

The rain won’t stop falling.

The rivers and seas won’t stop roaring.

The trees will still move in the breeze.

The cars will still move people to wherever they’re going.

The people will still move.

The lungs will still move oxygen.

The heart will still move blood.

The brain will still move the way it always does.

And all that’s good and well.

Those things will continue to move as long as God intends them to.

But what we can stop from moving is ourselves.

We can rest.

We can sit quietly.

We can be still.

And we should do just that.

We should, for stillness, be still.