Ink Prose: Be Still

Stillness is a concept that I don't do well. And this time of the year is especially difficult for me. Even when my body is at rest, my mind spins like a blender full of must-dos. Any mental list quickly becomes an opaque smoothie of unproductivity – each task now lost within an overwhelming sludge of eggnog guilt. It is at these precise moments – when my chest constricts and my left eyelid begins to twitch– that I pray for stillness. A moment to rest. Reminders of a greater peace. Calm within the spinning world my anxiety creates. I need to be still and remember who created me.

The thought of having these words tattooed on my skin has come to mind on more than one occasion. A song comes on the radio with these exact words when I am 10 minutes late for work. My Bible splays open to Psalm 46:10 during my attempts to quiet my mind before bed. A youth worker, who I adore, shows off her newly blazed forearm with these exact words. It must be a sign. Right?? Maybe. But for me, I need more to be said than those two words.

To be stll is a message that I constantly need to hear and read and remember. But it is not just the “be still”

part that I need inked on my body. I need the longer and more wordy explanation for what this passage means. I need to stop demanding myself to accomplish things on my own. I need to take moments of stillness in God to actually hear what he wants for my life. I need to stop with the crazy McFlurry of worry. ( and yeah, I just wrote that ). And even more so, I need to temper my impulses to win love and favour with action, rather than rest. I need to just rest in these words: I am already loved - even when I'm still and accomplishing nothing other than remembering this fact.

If you could tattoo a verse from the bible on your body, what would it be?

Also, please pass along any ideas you have for being still within the chaotic Christmas season. All advice is graciously appreciated.

(This post is part of the Five Minute Friday Blog Link Up. Follow the link for some more great posts on the prompt STILL.)