"Be Still My Soul" The Song

Sometimes things line up in a way so that God's mighty right hand is evident in our walk toward and with Him.  Today is one of those days for me. I am preparing material to teach a class on prayer and seeking God's presence in stillness and quiet. 

During my search, I googled the history of one of my favorite songs, "Be Still, My Soul."  The haunting melody and ethereal emotions it provokes are perfection when pondering the Lord's call for us to "be still and know." 

It always fascinates me when I find links to what I'm studying and subject matter that is valuable to me. I have know the song was originally written in German.  But today I learned it was translated to English by a Scottish girl in early 1800s.  Her name was Jane Borthwick, a member of the Free Church of Scotland.  The Borthwick clan lands bordered my Ramsay family's lands just south of Edinburgh, Scotland.  In the novel I am writing, my main 16th century Ramsay character, Anastasia marries a Borthwick. 

I also discovered there are verses written for the song that aren't normally included in hymnals.  One stanza in particular stands out to me due to its sentiments on grief.  One of my novel's central themes is grief and the book was born out of my own experience with grief after losing my best friend, Angie.  (That still jars me every time I type those words.)

 Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
and all is darkened in the vale of tears,
then shalt thou better know his love, his heart,
who come to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
from his own fondness all he takes away.

These words....  What a gift....  How that verse soothes me.  Praise God for this revelation today!  I am delighted to know that God provides just what I need when I need it.  And I needed this today!

Dripping with Jesus

I am a stubborn girl.  (Confession is good for the soul right?) I have always been this way.  Stubbornness has its good points, but it has some terrible points as well.  When I seek to learn a new spiritual discipline, my stubborn streak likes to jump up and grab attention.  My frustration level with self is high.  I sometimes have to go to extreme measures to get past the stubborn streak. 

I don't just want  people to think I might possibly be a Christian.  I want to drip Jesus. When I leave this world, I would like for people to see the trail of Jesus I have left behind.  I don't want this so I can be glorified, but so that HE can be glorified.  I want people to look right past me and see King Jesus. 

When a stubborn girl has these types of aspirations, it takes a lot of work to bend  her will toward the direction of Christ. One thing I want to make perfectly clear: GOD'S WORD IS THE KEY TO BECOMING WHO HE WANTS ME TO BE! 
 
Here are a few things that have been helpful for me in bending my stubborn nature toward Him.  I'm still very much a work in process and will be until I breathe my last breath.  Some ideas are basic and some take effort.  Most are simple.  But hear me, simple does not always mean easy. 

1.  Take notes
Even if it is only writing down the bullet points the speaker gives, it's worth your time to write them down.  You will remember them better once they are written.  It also simply helps you pay attention more when you are listening to a sermon.  I tend to drift if I don't really follow along in my bible and by writing notes. 

2.  The Liturgy 
 Most people in my "tribe" (churches of Christ) have never heard of the Liturgy. Yes, it started as a Catholic thing.  Yes, monks and nuns use this, but my evangelical friends, do not let this scare you.  Stay with me on this.  The Liturgy is a marking of the hours of the day with prayer using scriptures as your guide.  Do you have trouble making time to pray?  Having a Liturgy book will help you.  During the prayer times, you pray with the Psalms, have a passage to use for Lectio Divinia (Sacred Reading- which only means that you meditate on a short passage, searching for a message within the word), and lift up petitions and thanks to God.  It has changed my life and I'm not kidding or exaggerating.  Having the Liturgy of the Hours in my life has awakened my soul to praying the scriptures and praying multiple times during the day.  Not just "Thank you God" kind of prayers (which are great), but the kind that allow for getting in the word throughout the day and allowing the word to transform you!   If you have questions about this topic or another other, please drop me a comment or send a private message on Facebook.

3.  Coloring  
Yes, I mean with crayons.  Get a coloring book and colors, markers, pencils, etc.  (I adore office supplies!) Any coloring book will do, but now the shelves are full of lovely ones with scripture written on them.  Read a scripture. Then start to color.  As you color, roll the scripture around in your head.  This method of getting in the word also lowers your blood pressure, releases tension, and inspires creativity. 

4.  Bible Journaling
I've been a note-taking, bible journaler my whole life.  I underline, write notes in the empty spaces, doodle while listening to the preacher, etc.  My bible is loved and used.  I have bought several new bibles over the years, but my most beloved bible is worn.  It has packing tape holding the binding together.  I love my bible. 

Recently publishers have been printing note-taking, journaling bibles.  They are super fun.  You can do all kinds of lovely illustrations and lettering in the wide margins.  I bought one and adore it.  I read a page of scripture and sit with it for a bit.  An image will come to mind, or I'll be inspired by someone else's illustration.  Then I draw and letter on that page.  The image above is one I did for the 23rd Psalm.  There are tons of bible journaling groups on Facebook and Instagram.  Just look for the hastag #biblejournaling.  It's fun, relaxing and helps get me in the word, which is my goal for all these ideas. 

5.  Doodle prayers. 
I had been doing this for years and then learned it was a "thing".  I've mentioned it on my blog before.  There is a book called "Praying in Color".    It encourages you to write the names of people and situations you want to pray for.  Then while you hold their names in your heart, you doodle around their written name.  This method of prayer allows for silence, stillness, meditation and prayer.  Its awesome.  Go have a peek at the website. Its also a great method to help children begin the disciple of stillness and prayer. 

6.  Then there is silence.  A subject for another day and another blog post.  A long one.  

Unified in Love

Colossians 3:14 “Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”

    

The sun shone bright in the sky over Walter Jackson Elementary School’s playground.  Children ran around red-faced with beads of sweat on their noses and hair plastered to their foreheads in the warm, Alabama spring. Amidst all the fun, the bully of the third grade girls picked up a heavy, big, red kick-ball and bounced it hard off the head of one of the first graders.  It hit the little girl so hard that her ear touched her shoulder as her neck bent sideways with the impact.  The playground became silent except for the sound of children playing in the distance and birds singing high in the big oak trees lining the school property.  The little girl began to quietly cry, holding her neck. 

 

   One of the most popular third grade girls broke the silence with a forceful, “Now, wait just a minute!  You can’t do that to her.  She didn’t do anything to you!  You tell her you are sorry.  NOW.”  The popular girl ran to the first grader and asked if she was alright.  The injured, frightened little girl shook her head.  Yes, she was ok, but it hurt. The big bully squared her shoulders, straightened her back and folded her arms on her chest.  She looked down her evil nose at the other girl and said, “I’m not sayin’ nothin’.  I can do whatever I want.  All these girls are on my team and we can do whatever we want.”  She waved her hand across the group of girls as if it were a magic wand.  

   Again, silence.  “I’m telling,” one brave little girl finally shouted.  “Oh no you won’t,” the bully fired back.  The popular girl said, “We are ALL telling! You can’t get away with this.  You hurt her.  No one wants to be one your team.”  The bully’s face turned beet red.  I think she grew about five horrifying inches as we all stood staring at her.  One by one the girls began to stare down the bully and stand beside the little first grade girl and the popular third grader, until the bully was standing all alone.  Everyone had made their choice and unified against the playground bully. 

   The popular girl, put her arm around my shoulder as we all walked toward the teachers.  You see, I was the little girl that was hurt.  After that day, the bully didn’t bother me or anyone else anymore.  She was disciplined for her actions and given a stern warning for the future.  The girls had chosen sides.  We fought and won against the bully.  

   When Jesus said that the most important things were to love God and love others, I have believed these words worthy of a hearty “Amen” during services, but in real life they seemed merely suggestions, not commands. 

  

   I grew up being afraid and judgement of what other churches taught.  As a life-long resident of the Bible belt, scriptures have always played a role in my life.  I learned my childhood memory verses; I was taken to Bible classes and Vacation Bible School; if the doors of the church were opened I was occupying a pew.  Yet in growing and developing my faith, I got the impression that scripture was a weapon against other people, not Satan.  I had missed the joy that comes through Christian love and unity.  I had not chosen sides yet.  

   The definition of the word unity is the state of being joined together for a common purpose, or common feelings.  The concept of unity is simple, but simple does not equal easy.  The act of spiritual unity is hard in a fallen world.  Currently our world finds different religions at odds with one another, which is nothing new.  But it is not enough to disagree with one another in today’s society.  We currently see a resurgence of religious violence and hatred, but to extremes and scale never before imagined.  

   I don’t think Jesus was kidding when He called us to love. What might be accomplished if we, all Christians, chose sides?  What if we all realized we are on the same team with a common enemy?  What if we unified in love? 

This World Is Not My Home

She lay so still.  Only her eyes moved, following the conversation as it moved from one to the other.  Our group of closest friends gathered around her bed hoping to comfort her in some way, or perhaps just comfort our own breaking hearts.  We talked of old times.  We prayed, laughed, and read scripture.  We held on to her tightly, but she was letting go.

At one point, I could almost hear an audible "ping" as another earthly tether attaching her to this planet let go.  You could see it in her eyes as well.  This earth was not her home anymore.  Her time of passing through was almost over.

 All throughout her illness we had prayed together that God would reveal the things to us that we needed to learn from this experience. What I failed to learn was how to live without her.  In the three years since her death, I've changed, either in good ways or bad depending on who is asked.  I believe it to be good ways, hopefully the best ways.

I no longer tolerate drama, gossip, or religious infighting.  We are on the same team and it is high time we act like it.  Life is too short to mess with the stuff that taints our days.  I enjoy football, but now I wouldn’t say I love it.  It’s a game.  I follow politics, but I no longer can stand the constant bickering and hatred of it.  I follow enough to be an informed voter, but it no longer guides my days as it did before.  

Earthly stuff is of little use.  Watching a loved one’s stuff get divided up is painful.  I learned for me there are very few physical things that really matter.  Photographs, Bibles, books, good jewelry, recipes, written words.  In the end, even these will all go away.  The time you spend with people is the only real gift that is worth giving. But of course, the only true things that matter in life are sharing the gospel, deepening your relationship with God, and love.  All of it boils down to love.  Unlike things, love can't be divided, only multiplied.

 A few days ago, John and I were talking through some decisions we have to make regarding some rather important issues.  Neither of us wants to make these decisions without the other, so we are praying and waiting as one.  As our conversation grew deeper I told him I don't seem to think of things in the same way any longer and things that were once quite important to me, no longer are.

I feel my own tethers breaking free from this earth.  Not that I believe I am dying any time soon, but who knows.  I could die before I finish writing this, or I could live to be a hundred years old (I hope I don't).

As we were talking, I told John, “All I want to do is get as close to God as possible in this life.  That is my only goal.  And within that goal, I hope to draw as many to Him as possible.  God said to love Him and love others.  That’s it.  Love is our only filter.  God’s love is all that should drive any decision we make.  I’m not willing to play in the shallow end of the pool, where all the noise is generated.  I want to dive deep into His presence, where it is quiet and peacefully.  So peaceful it passes all understanding.” 

On my last visit to the Monastery, I sat in silence, meditating for 35 straight minutes.  That is the longest I’ve ever been able to focus during deep meditation.  It is during times like these that I feel God’s peaceful stillness settle around me and hear the faint “ping” of a one of my own tethers breaking loose.  

This world is not my home.  See you soon, Angie.