It’s hard to sit still. When I pause for a few minutes I quickly think of something that needs doing. Fixing something around the house or mowing the grass pops to mind. Accomplishing a task pushes aside stillness.

My phone opens a variety of options to counteract stillness. I check the news—what’s Putin up to? I read an interesting article on Croatia. I daydream. I find it hard to focus and stay still.

Yet the Lord is not found in busyness, but in stillness. So clever, to be discovered in plain sight, if only I might slow my mind enough to see.

The Lord spoke these words through the Sons of Korah: Be still, and know that I am God. I understand the concept, but I find it hard to practice. Recently, however, I learned a different way to pray this verse from my wife. Maybe you’ll find it helpful as well.

Breathe deeply and close your eyes. Then repeat the verse slowly, over and over, but each time drop a word from the end. I find the practice helps me focus, and the change of each line opens space to sense beyond the immediate.

Find a quiet moment and try it a few times:

Be still, and know that I am God.

Be still, and know that I am.

Be still, and know that I.

Be still, and know that.

Be still, and know.

Be still, and.

Be still.

Be.

Psalm 46 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Rasmus Smedstrup Mortensen