Pause – Be Still and Know that I am God.
I have been reading a book written by Chris Chapman entitled “Earthed in God”. He uses his experience and love of gardening as a way of talking about spiritual growth. He says that his book rests on the understanding that God desires and works for our flourishing much as we do when we sow seeds and watch over their development.
In Chapter Five he quotes St Benedict in his Rule “Listen, what can be sweeter to us, dear ones, than this voice of the Lord inviting us?” We must not only listen but also “incline the ear of the heart”. I was reminded of this when reading the words from the book of Deuteronomy which is our first reading this Sunday. “The Word is very near to you, it is in your heart and in your mouth for your observance.” Chris writes that we need to allow ourselves time to stop and be open to what we are experiencing. Many of us find this difficult. We are under pressure of time. “In a garden – as in other areas of life – it is easy to be swept along by what needs to be done and to forget to be present to what we are part of creating.”
I thought about this when sitting on a seat in a beautiful garden this past week. Seats, says Chris Chapman “are invitations to stop doing for a while and being present to the sun on your face, the fresh green light of spring foliage.” We need to take time to listen to the Word that is in our heart and in our mouth. If we are constantly on the go and doing then we will not hear the word in our heart. The seat in the garden, if you like, invites us to lay aside preoccupations that guard and govern us. Yes, we do have to plant and sow and weed and harvest and the seasons make masters of when we do this. But within this cycle – just as the cycle of the Church’s liturgical calendar – is a rhythm, a heart beat of the spirit behind all we do.
How about this week finding moments in our busy hectic day to pause? Find a time when you pause to look around you and take in all you see, and hear, and feel. Let what you see around you sink in and speak to you. Let the Word within you emerge. “ Be still and know that I am God.” sings the psalmist. We recognise the presence of God in us because God has created us in his image and God is there within us. Christ Jesus became fully human therefore it is in our humanity that we encounter Christ. Find a seat, find time to pause, switch off the phone, turn off the radio and television. God is very near to you, he is in your heart.
