If my life were a television commercial, it would be the car commercial that goes “Zoom, zoom, zoom.” Sometimes I even catch myself singing this ditty as I get in my jeep and take off to pick up a child at school or take one to the dentist. This busy, fast-paced lifestyle is so commonplace that we are losing the art of “doing nothing” — a period of “down time” where we think, reflect, meditate, and pray.

    My daughter can’t understand why I don’t listen to the radio while I drive. I’ve tried to explain to her that this is my “thinking” time. Being a typical teen, she prefers noise of any kind to stillness. When I was a teenager, many years ago, I enjoyed poetry. I had a book of poems called Listen to the Quiet. My children have not yet learned the benefits of stillness or quietness.

...I can be still to open my heart and my busy life to God.

    Since none of my children play baseball, summer is somewhat of a reprieve for me. However, school will soon start again, and that means the speed of my life will again increase. Before I know it, I will be singing “Zoom, zoom, zoom” again. During those busy times, I literally will take time to lock myself in my bedroom and unplug the phone to escape the chaos that comes with having five active children, a busy husband, three nephews, two dogs and a cat, as well as a busy life of my own.

    No matter how busy or fast-paced my life becomes, I do my best to start and end each day the same way: with prayer. I want God to be at the top of my priority list. I believe it is also important that my children know that this quiet time with God is at the top of my priority list. I want them to see that I can be still to open my heart and my busy life to God.

    We are reminded in Scripture to “be still and know that I am God.” If we don’t, it would be very hard to achieve the things that really matter, "...a loving family, a consistent investment in the lives of people, and an earnest attempt to serve God who made me.”*

    To be truly successful...we have to make time in our lives to be still.

* This comes from one of my favorite quotes from Dr. James Dobson: “I have concluded that the accumulation of wealth, even if I could achieve it, is an insufficient reason for living. When I reach the end of my days, a moment or two from now, I must look backward on something more meaningful than the pursuit of houses and land and machines and stocks and bonds. Nor is fame of any lasting benefit. I will consider my earthly existence to have been wasted unless I can recall a loving family, a consistent investment in the lives of people, and an earnest attempt to serve God who made me. Nothing else makes sense.”

Title: "The Art of Being Still"
Author: Teresa Bell Kindred, http://www.teresakindred.com
Publication Date: July 25, 2001

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