There is strength in stillness. It is not easy to be still, to be quiet, to wait patiently, especially when everyone around you and everything in you says go, do, act! We live in such a purpose-driven world: the world of the hustle and the grind. We are constantly being told that we have to act to achieve. While this isn't necessarily wrong, do we sometimes take it too far and act when in fact the better course of action is to be still.

Many are aware of these three responses to anxiety; fight, flight, and freeze. The first two, fighting and fleeing are very recognizable actions that can save your life. The third however is one that people struggle with accepting as an action geared to save your life. How can freezing, staying in one place without motion be beneficial when you are in a dangerous place?

Freezing for many is not a choice in extreme anxiety; it is something their body just does. If this happens to them, they sometimes feel like they were cowardly and didn't act when they should have. However, there is wisdom in freezing sometimes. This act of just stopping and not moving can save you if you use it to gather your thoughts to assess your options and look for potential dangers in your surroundings. The enemy wants you to run around like a chicken without a head screaming "the sky is falling". Your anxiety may make you want to move nervously without purpose or engage in a behavior to quell it. However sometimes (not all the time) challenging yourself to engage in stillness will work better.

I am a firm believer in action; I preach it in my coaching when clients are hesitant to move forward because of their fear. I encourage action as a way to challenge depression which can tell a person to stay in bed and not move. I will continue to give this advice, however today I want to make sure that action is not used as a crutch to avoid stillness. Stillness is a friend when welcomed and sought out for the right reason.

What are the best reasons to seek out stillness?

· To meditate and seek spiritual guidance. Yes, you can move around and pray, but can you also sit still in God's presence without a TV, computer, or some other electronic device going on in the background. You would be surprised at how many people struggle to stay still for 5 minutes without noise to keep their brains engaged.

· To give your body a rest. This is not about sleeping, it's about being awake and alert and in tune with your posture. Relax those muscles. Focus on them, one group at a time, and just relax them. There is a process called Progressive Muscle Relaxation that can help you with that.

· To think deeply about an issue. Not to worry about it but to turn it over in your mind while being aware of the emotions that may be triggered by it. This allows you to recognize and not run from discomforting thoughts or feelings and take an observers approach to these thoughts and feelings. We use noise to avoid this most of the time.

What is it about us that we ask for rest and peace, but struggle to enter it and stay in it? Sometimes illness is the only thing that can get us to stay still. I used to quote Psalm 23 "he makes me to lie down in green pastures" as the only way I would rest is if God MADE me do it. I have since tried to be more obedient to the call for rest and stillness without having to be ill.

This past year God cleared my schedule of many things that had kept me from stillness. Unfortunately, the clearing did start with illness. But thankfully the illness was short-term, but it was significant enough for me to take stock of my life and the busyness that was a part of it.

I realized that I had been doing a lot of good things, enjoyable things, but that I had been wearing myself out. I made the drastic decision to cut back on my workload, I let go of some volunteer activities I had been involved in and I committed to focusing more on some projects that had been on a back burner for the last five years because I just "didn't have the time".

Surprisingly the lack of busyness didn't immediately feel comfortable. I was surprised at the degree of guilt I felt at being able to be more leisurely in my approach to things. I felt that I was not as productive and purposeful because my income didn't reflect the amount it had before. I felt like I was failing people who continued to expect the same degree of availability from me as I had delivered in the previous years. I had to say "no" a lot, which didn't feel good.

But I held my ground. I was making enough to live comfortably, I had time to do what needed to be done and time to do a lot of what I wanted to do. I had time to think! I thought about what I wanted and needed. I became more focused in my connections with others because I didn't feel so hurried and frantic. All this was the result of becoming quiet and inviting stillness into my life. To think I fought this for so many years.

Isaiah: 30:15 God, the Master, The Holy of Israel, has this solemn counsel: "Your salvation requires you to turn back to me and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves. Your strength will come from settling down in complete dependence on me — The very thing you've been unwilling to do. You've said, 'No way! We'll rush off on horseback!' You'll rush off, all right! Just not far enough! You've said, 'We'll ride off on fast horses!' Do you think your pursuers ride old nags? Think again: A thousand of you will scatter before one attacker. Before a mere five you'll all run off. There'll be nothing left of you — a flagpole on a hill with no flag, a signpost on a roadside with the sign torn off." MSG

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: "In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." But you would not, NKJV

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: "Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it. NLT

As I look at the verses above, I recognize the wisdom that God has made available for me. I encourage you also to stop running, to stop, be still, invite quietness in an intentional way into your daily routine. See what it will reveal to you when you shut off the noise and truly listen.

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