Day 33 – Issue 14

Be Still Know

Hebrews 12:2a NLT

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

I spoke yesterday of my need for distraction and my low concentration threshold. It certainly helped me understand why over the years I was of little value on committees that ran extended meetings. There were a few high points around original thinking and strategy that engaged me, but for the rest, I was absent for most of the discussions. Hence I serve on no such bodies today.

However, the learning of this, while useful for me and most constructive for others who’d simply grown frustrated working alongside me, was not simply a realisation of what not to do. It also opened a door into discovering more of God’s unfathomable love for me. I had time, having stepped back from various projects etc. However, I might as easily have invested such time in pursuing other alternative distractions which might have proved no more than a fresh set of imaginative daydreams. While boasting a PhD, I have to admit I am a dreamer.

So God invited me to fix my eyes upon Jesus in an unwavering gaze that refused to be diverted from the focus of its attention. In this way, I was introduced into the world of both meditation and contemplation. This was no easy task. No sooner was I thinking about Jesus than my train of thought was hijacked by some random reflection, and within seconds my eyes were elsewhere, with Jesus, the original focus, now a distant and lost memory. I was grateful to learn simple breathing exercises that relaxed my body and trained my mind to focus. Random thoughts were never far away, yet now I was able to allow such distractions to drift to the back of my mind and maintain a clear focus on Jesus. I was still and silent before my Lord and considered him alone, with all of my attention.

QUESTION: How hard do you find it to be silent and still? 

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, fill my gaze, grab my attention, win my heart for you today.