Be still and know
I am not big on resolutions but I do like lists. As I thought about 2018, I concluded that I hadn’t accomplished anything of merit. I started to get all negative and then thought wait a minute what did I do even if I don’t think it is done. Well, I didn’t sell my house but wait, I put it on the market and emptied it after living there for 35 years. I guess that counts as an accomplishment. Also, I didn’t publish my book but wait I wrote a first draft and went to a writer’s conference. That counts as something, too. The more I pondered the year I realized it wasn’t about completing tasks or checking things off my lists. It was and is about being who God intended me to be. During 2018 I think there were moments I was exactly where and who God intended me to be. Yes, there was lots to do but there were moments I chose people over plans. I am reading Almost Everything by Anne Lamott and these lines jumped out at me –
“We remember mustard seeds, that the littlest things will have great results. We do the smallest, realest, most human things. We water that which is dry.”
That is who I want to be the person who waters what is dry. I am not good at gardening. I can’t keep house plants alive. But I believe that is who God wants me to be as one who is blessed by my Heavenly Father.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink, Iwas a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Matthew 25: 34-46 NIV
As I begin 2019 much has changed, and my weekly schedule doesn’t have those benchmark events as it has in the past, I am living in a new place so what should I do but more importantly who shall I be. It is a question I have been dealing with for years. Looking back on old January posts I found the following from January 1, 2013. https://missannsays.com/2013/01/01/be-vs-do-that-is-the-question/
Richard Rohr in Everything Belongs states: “I use this prayer to draw myself and others into a contemplative frame of mind:
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.”
“He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 NIV
Yes, sometimes we feel that we have accomplished nothing. However, I know you were there for your kids and grand-kids. You were there for friends that needed someone to listen…