It hasn’t been a season of tranquility in my house. For a year that demanded we do, go, and plan less we certainly felt very busy. Pretty much all the time.

Some of that is that we have remained very involved in the planning and execution of our weekly worship services for church; more of it is that the kids have been home distance learning, turning the house into full time school and part time everything else.

But most of it is that every single thing takes about 5x more thought and planning than it used to. Things that we barely had to give a second thought to a year ago are suddenly herculean efforts. Even when they aren’t, worrying that they might be fills in any extra time we might have saved.

One of the challenges I faced this year was figuring out how to take breaks in a season that, on paper, is one of the slowest periods we have had in decades. I find that I am berating myself; confused. “Why are you so tired? Why are you so stressed? You are doing half of what you would normally be doing?”

But physical action is only one way we exhaust ourselves. If 2020 taught us anything, it is that it is easily possible to bankrupt our peace from inside the walls of our own homes.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God”

He doesn’t say “Sit still and know that I am God”

It isn’t about what we are doing. It is about quieting the war in our heads; it is about letting go of feeling like we can control things that we truly can’t. About being still so that God can move our lives around us.

So as the world opens back up and torrents of change and expectations rain down on us, take a breath. Don’t sprint to make up for lost time; you aren’t late.

His peace is one that surpasses all understanding. You know it and I know it; we just need to practice a stillness that allows us to feel it.