Psalm 46:10
Be still and know that I am God.
You don't often find me laying out specific "preaching" here. I don't climb on the soapbox (mostly cuz wake is already on it ;-P ) alot. But this past week, as I struggle with the question of justice in Lebanon, terrorists determined to do harm to the Western way of life and what my role in advocating for peace is, this old favorite verse kept coming to me.
And I didn't hear it the way I used to hear those words as a child, changing God for Mom or Dad. I hated that answer - "Because I am your mother, that's why." I hated to be told to "be still" just as much, because that meant not getting to do what it was I wanted to - whether it be squirm or fidget or move around in a moving car. I heard it quite differently this week and thought to post it.
First, I heard it with a different tempo and rhythm that usual. Almost like 3 sentences.
Be.
Still.
Know that I am God.
Be. Just my very existence is nothing I caused. It came from somewhere else. It doesn't matter if you are an agnostic, atheist or Fundamentalist right-wing-nut, you probably agree with that statement. And part of what I have been hearing this week is that simple word - be.
Take the life you have been given with grace and thankfulness for the breath you take. Some of us have easy lives (relatively speaking). Some are more difficult. Some seem cruel. But we are all created with a purpose and so, be. Be that purpose. Be, Kurt. This is what I heard.
Still. Dictionary.com defines the word (in its adverb form)as "at the present time." For me, when coupled with the feeling of "be" described above, it astounds me. If you knew me then...
25 years old was not a strong probability when I was 18, 19 or 20. Drugs, bad judgement and plain old stupidity had relatives wondering when they were going to get the call. If the phone rang on a Friday or Saturday night and it was me calling home, as soon as he heard my voice, my father would ask what hospital. I am sure my mother was harboring darker thoughts than that and wondering if they could afford the cost for the lawyer. So "still" is special to me at 47.
It also reinforces the idea of living for now. The definition is "at the present time," not "now and in the future."
Know that I am God
Our niece and her husband were over today; they are moving out of Texas to Spokane, WA this week. We hosted a family gathering for them and us, to say goodbye and good luck. Their 19 month daughter was with them. She is talking up a storm and they spent a good deal of time with her, teaching her counting and names and words. Pretty soon Lily will "know" how to count and pronounce many words. Our names will not be mysteries to her - I will be "Uncle Kurt" because she knows it.
Have you ever gone to sleep with a question in your mind, whether it is a problem at work, or who starred in that movei, or what the name of that song was, and when you woke up, you had it. You knew. How did you know? Don't know that one, but you KNEW the answer you sought.
And that is how I am hearing the end of that passage. Just know. No teaching required. Just know.
I'm not sure I did a good job explaining this, but I really wanted to share it. Thanks for reading this far. I hope you have peace today.
You don't often find me laying out specific "preaching" here. I don't climb on the soapbox (mostly cuz wake is already on it ;-P ) alot. But this past week, as I struggle with the question of justice in Lebanon, terrorists determined to do harm to the Western way of life and what my role in advocating for peace is, this old favorite verse kept coming to me.
And I didn't hear it the way I used to hear those words as a child, changing God for Mom or Dad. I hated that answer - "Because I am your mother, that's why." I hated to be told to "be still" just as much, because that meant not getting to do what it was I wanted to - whether it be squirm or fidget or move around in a moving car. I heard it quite differently this week and thought to post it.
First, I heard it with a different tempo and rhythm that usual. Almost like 3 sentences.
Be.
Still.
Know that I am God.
Be. Just my very existence is nothing I caused. It came from somewhere else. It doesn't matter if you are an agnostic, atheist or Fundamentalist right-wing-nut, you probably agree with that statement. And part of what I have been hearing this week is that simple word - be.
Take the life you have been given with grace and thankfulness for the breath you take. Some of us have easy lives (relatively speaking). Some are more difficult. Some seem cruel. But we are all created with a purpose and so, be. Be that purpose. Be, Kurt. This is what I heard.
Still. Dictionary.com defines the word (in its adverb form)as "at the present time." For me, when coupled with the feeling of "be" described above, it astounds me. If you knew me then...
25 years old was not a strong probability when I was 18, 19 or 20. Drugs, bad judgement and plain old stupidity had relatives wondering when they were going to get the call. If the phone rang on a Friday or Saturday night and it was me calling home, as soon as he heard my voice, my father would ask what hospital. I am sure my mother was harboring darker thoughts than that and wondering if they could afford the cost for the lawyer. So "still" is special to me at 47.
It also reinforces the idea of living for now. The definition is "at the present time," not "now and in the future."
Know that I am God
Our niece and her husband were over today; they are moving out of Texas to Spokane, WA this week. We hosted a family gathering for them and us, to say goodbye and good luck. Their 19 month daughter was with them. She is talking up a storm and they spent a good deal of time with her, teaching her counting and names and words. Pretty soon Lily will "know" how to count and pronounce many words. Our names will not be mysteries to her - I will be "Uncle Kurt" because she knows it.
Have you ever gone to sleep with a question in your mind, whether it is a problem at work, or who starred in that movei, or what the name of that song was, and when you woke up, you had it. You knew. How did you know? Don't know that one, but you KNEW the answer you sought.
And that is how I am hearing the end of that passage. Just know. No teaching required. Just know.
I'm not sure I did a good job explaining this, but I really wanted to share it. Thanks for reading this far. I hope you have peace today.
posted by Kurt at 9:20 PM
4 Comments:
It's a sick twisted god, in my opinion, that would let so many children suffer all around the world. Let them be blown to bits, starve, turned into child prostitutes, used to find land mines, and beaten and sodomized.
The same God has created each and every one of us, perfect in our own way.
HUMANS must accept responsibility for starvation, blowing up, and even sodomy. God does not make them suffer, WE do.
You don't see that happening in the animal kingdom. You see, our occipital lobe sets us apart...that's what free will has chosen. Society as a whole, lives in agreement with each of those things everyday. If we did not, we would quit running our mouths and get into action about those things we love or oppose so. It's a problem worth having in life, is it not? Don't tell me things won't ever change. We used to think the world was flat, too.
and justice?
who is the judge that decides and grants that?
You know me. All I ever say is give peace a chance...and the same God knows, I've made mistakes with the best of em. But to kill for the sake of cessation of killing? Please explain to me the justice (or logic, for that matter) in that.
..and when the broken hearted people living in the world agree, there will be an answer...let it be.
For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see...there will be an answer...let it be.
You can choose to grant yourself BEING everyday, Kurt~
I agree with Rat that it would be a sick twisted God that would allow all this suffering, especially of innocents (is there really such a thing? but that's a whole 'nuther can of worms) UNLESS that God did something about the suffering. And I believe God did. Even more than giving us free will and the chance to change things as Daisy points out. It's not what we want to hear, and it's not how it's generally preached, but the gospel is the word of that redemption from sin, whose symptoms we see in all the things Rat points out.
I don't know why God has chosen to let the entire world suffer as it has forever now with wars and whatnot, but it must all be part of His greater plan. When I found out I was pregnant again and freaked out, a friend told me this: God does NOT make mistakes; sometimes He sure surprises the heck out of us, but He does NOT make mistakes. I guess the same goes for the rest of the world. We just have to trust in God. Without Him, we would have no hope or faith in anything. And that's what keeps me going day to day.
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