Stillness

By Simply Kerri

​Do you ever see a picture that just captivates you? This picture did it for me.  I stared at this picture for so long when I first saw it. Then I went back and looked at it a few more times. I kept seeing this picture in my head. The simple, raw beauty of an amazing sunset. The way this photographer captures the sun just before it disappears behind the clouds and retreats for the night. The clouds in their own shapes and colors, perfectly imperfect. The way he captures the ripples in the sand from the ocean having pushed back and forth with the changing of tides and currents. The reflection of the sun and the clouds, how the water mirrors them so beautifully. The colors of every corner of this picture, like on a canvas, mixed so wonderfully by the artist. Every aspect of this picture captures nature’s splendor.
 
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But even in all it’s perfection, that’s not what I noticed at first glance. It’s not what kept me going back to look at it a few more times either. It was the 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 That I saw. Everything seems frozen, like time and the weather, the sun in its setting, the clouds, the water, even the birds, like everything just stopped for this moment. Sure we can say the photographer pressed the button at the perfect time. But he can’t make the waters still. He can’t still the birds or the clouds or the sun. 
 
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I felt God stirring something in my soul with this picture.  I contacted the friend who took this and asked if I could use it for a post because I knew it gave a perfect visual to the words my heart needed to speak. But as I began writing my original post, something happened… Everyone in my home became sick with you know what. The extreme fatigue I have felt over the last, now 10 days, has been not just physical exhaustion, but so mental too. Quite honestly this post has been driving me nuts. I knew the words I wanted to say but they weren’t coming out. Mixed with being sick, I had zero desire to pick up my phone and even type it out. 
 
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As I sat in bed battling fatigue, discouragement, little flickers of guilt for not being able to even have energy to write this post, or work on the projects I have started, clean the house, cook dinner.. All of the things I should be doing. Even sick, I have always had the grit to push through and get it done. But not this time. So I sat there, feeling hopeless, not even having enough energy to have my own pity party. But one thing was for sure, this post bothered me. All the words I had wanted to share were just gone. Erased by sniffles and kids with fevers and headaches, repeat days of doctors calling and checking in, friends and family checking in, cat naps through out the days. Little ripples of life just happening around me, the tides and currents changing and there was nothing I could do to stop them. 
 
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One day, I opened up my Bible app, determined to at the very least stay connected to God, even if I could do nothing else. The scripture that was on the screen was the very scripture that this post was going to be centered around. It was my scripture. The very same scripture that long ago God gave me as a life line that has come to be so precious to me. Some day I’ll share that story, but for now, I will tell you, this scripture He spoke to my heart in a very dark time in my life. A time where anxiety and fear and feelings of pain were so deep, where everything in my world seemed so very out of control, I was spinning like a top that wouldn’t stop. And ever since those words hit, God has shown me hope with this one scripture over and over and over again through the years. Not just hope, but reminders of faith, and of His power. 
 
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So when I saw this scripture again, no my life isn’t in quite the same whirlwind it was that day so long ago, but the last 10 days it has been on pause, by something I cannot control. And so, this scripture, once again reminded me of His promise. Of His love. He was once again reminding me that I am not in control. That I cannot do all the things. 
 
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I looked at this picture again, and most of the words I had wanted to speak came flooding back. The main points at least. It was that 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 in that photo that captured my heart. It reminds me that every time life’s ebb and flow of changing tides comes to leave little ripples in our world, we have to learn to be still. We have to learn that just like this photographer didn’t create this beauty, but only captured it. We too can capture the beauty in all areas of our life. Even the hard ones. Being sick and feeling betrayed by my own body has forced me to slow down to a complete stop. A pause. A stillness. A resting place. To know that, we are not in control of these things, but we have to surrender knowing that God is in control. When I reflect on the things I see as important like, cleaning, cooking nice meals,  growing my little business…. All the things we often think are so important.. God is reminding me, just where on the kingdom scale are they important? 
 
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Sometimes we need to hit the pause button. We need to embrace the stillness that God allows and remember that even when we stop, He never does. We may not be working or growing, or creating, or even functioning at any capacity that seems right by our own measure, but maybe, maybe being still is the lesson we need to learn. Maybe being still just like in that photo, in all its perfection and beauty, is a beautiful part in our journey too. The endless snuggles with the kids, the restful state that your body needs to recover. The quiet intimate moments with God. These are the ripples that matter.
 
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The ripples on that sand look beautiful in that photo, but they were formed by the rough oceans ebb and flow of changing tides. The currents that are constantly pushing and pulling. The sun in its beautiful setting, offers a picture of hope. Darkness comes, but so doesn’t light. 
 
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Friends, if you find yourself in a place of stillness, embrace it. Remember who is in control, surrender the emotions, the fighting and striving for strength and just 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙃𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙂𝙤𝙙.
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“”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 

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