Be Still

Heather Boyd

My sister sent me this piece of music last week. As I listened to the introduction for the first time, I thought ‘I wish this piece would get a move on!’ 

Here I am in lockdown with 14 pressure-free waking hours every day, willing a 5-minute piece of music to get a move on! 

But as I continued to listen, I noticed my breathing slow down, the words lulling me. I was like a baby being soothed. I needed this pace.

Be still (my Love), and know that I am God.

Eight simple words that take me deeper in this moment than the many spiritual books sitting on my bed side table.

It doesn’t take very much to rescue us from our harried lives, our fretful thoughts, our compulsion to fill our days with what we perceive to be meaningful tasks. 

A poem, birdsong, a sunset, a loving phone call, or in this case a song. 

And as the piece ends, I don’t move. I want to savour the stillness it has gifted me.

 Be still (my Love)and know that I am God.

How is it that so slow and simple and unsophisticated a tune, with words I have heard a hundred times before, has recalibrated me today? I might even say it has re-tuned me.

Inadvertently, almost reluctantly, I have been given what I most need today. I HAVE been stilled, and beyond my searching, analytical mind, today I DO know...

What might help you to slow down today?

What would it be like to live today in tune, with God, yourself and others?

What words do you need to hear?