Be Still and Know that I Am God

By: Mallorie Gerwitz

I was recently trying to fall asleep after a busy day, and struggled to do so, as a puppy, who could not have been more than 4 or 5 weeks old was crying and whining.  I immediately sprung out of bed and outside to see if I could find the crying puppy.   The puppy must have been inside next to an open window…. for as I drew nearer to the source of the sound… no puppy was insight.  

In this season of spring, of Lent, of listening to God, we are each in our own Lenten journeys.   Being able to “Be Still and Know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10), can be hard when there seems to be many puppies crying out into the world.  Which “puppy”, (metaphorically speaking) is the one, we are called to assist?  A puppy is a puppy, is a puppy, but what if that “Voice of one crying out in the desert,” was a deeper call towards ones own spirituality, to God speaking to us?

As I journey along this Lenten time and welcome the extra sunlight, I wonder to myself and to God… “Where am I being called to listen and be assistance to those crying out?”  “What am I closing my eyes, ears and heart to?  Is it simply because it is too scary, or we’ve become accustomed to it being “this way”?  Am I too settled… to comfortable?  My Lenten goal is to simplify, slow down and weed out what is not important.  How can I do that when there are so many, “crying puppies?”  

As the snow melts, the crocus’ pop and Daffodils bloom and the time of Lent draws ever on-ward into Easter I pray for greater focus, but to not let go of  “Springing into action – to responding to the one crying out in the desert”, when someone or something needs attention or assistance.  Allow my ears, eyes and heart to not be closed; but to pray for the “cries” I hear daily.  For the wisdom to know, when I should say something, and when it is just best for me to be quiet, “to be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)