Inspiring Ignatian Quote #11

There is much truth to today’s quote. We’ve talked about gratitude and abundance, but I don’t think any of us are capable of knowing the true depths, heights, breadth of our Loving Creator’s bounty! It is never ending, His supply is as unlimited as His love is unconditional for us! The best way for us to tap into this mystery and to draw closer to God, is to Be Still. It almost seems as if that is a quick solution, and easy fix, but let me assure you, it is incredibly difficult for most of us! For any of those of us who experience restlessness, or become fidgety in prayer, please know you are not alone, but also know that in time and with practice, you can and will become more still for longer periods of time. Try 30 seconds. Just that.

You might be amazed at how long that lasts when you are trying to be still. If that is too difficult, try 20 seconds, or 10. work up to a little more each day or week. Be gentle with yourself, the object is not a timing exercise, it is time spent with your Loving Creator! . . . the being or energy or whatever God is, that breathed, imaged, desired you into being. The Psalmist wrote (or sang, 46:10), “Be still and know that I am God!” Yes, he ends with and exclamation point!

A good starting point when I work with retreatants new to becoming still, is to have them write out this Psalm on 8 different cards. On the first card, write only the word, “Be.” On the second card, write the words, “Be still.”, and so on, adding only one word to each successive card until you have one with all eight words on it. You can choose to use punctuation as you wish or not. Just focusing on “Be.” and adding the period, can be sufficient for a day’s meditation exercise. The next day, (or you may choose a week later), “Be Still.” again, provides great fodder for a deep meditation. When you get to the third card, it can leave you hanging . . . “Be still and . . .”, pondering the possibilities allows much time to pass and you find yourself well past the allotted time (if you have allotted time).

This process can be done in one sitting or over several days, weeks, months, depending upon how you approach your stillness exercises. You will learn how hard it is to simply “Be still”, but this is the key to knowing God. When you have gone through all eight cards, go back through them again, but this time start with the full verse, and remove a word each session, ending with , “Be.” Is there any difference between your first experience of sitting still with the word “Be.” and this time? Journaling your experiences will shed some light on your growth. I hope you learn to enjoy the hard work of ‘being still’.