God-centered stillness

In an environment of instant communication, constant motion, and increasing demands, stillness and calm might seem quaint anachronisms. A recent, much discussed article in The New York Times spotlighted “blogger burnout.” The article referred to the current “digital-era sweatshop” in which an army of independent workers toil under “great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy” (Matt Richtel, The New York Times, April 6, 2008). Although the article was immediately repudiated by many bloggers who happily supply a steady stream of information to loyal readers, others agreed with the article’s sentiment. They expressed fear for their own health in their drive to generate more and more content for an increasingly insatiable audience.

How can we avoid the frustration that comes from information overload crowding out time for quiet contemplation? How can we find time for God? I think the first step is learning that we don’t have to mentally consent to the thought that our cultural environment defines how we think or who we are.

As St. Paul—quite possibly one of the busiest men who ever lived—realized, “We live, and move, and have our being” in a loving, infinite, peaceful God. When I’m feeling overworked and out of touch with the quiet calm that prayer provides, Paul’s demanding schedule lends perspective. His agenda rivaled that of today’s most over-scheduled student, committed parent, or pressured employee. Paul was impelled to spread the gospel to anyone and everyone who would pay attention. The fulfillment of this mission included nonstop travel, speeches, writing, and more disparate social networking than some of us are involved in on websites like Facebook.com.

Yet amidst all the communication, commotion, and responsibility, Paul remained clearly focused. What was his secret? How could someone so active state with complete confidence: “Let us not be weary in well-doing”?

Paul’s example can be extremely helpful to anyone searching for a calm that feels elusive. We read in the 20th chapter of Acts that following months of lecturing and travel—mainly by sailboat—he concluded a weeklong visit to Troas with a speech that lasted “until midnight.” When a young audience member fell to his death, Paul didn’t panic or wring his hands with a “Not now, I’m too exhausted for this!” Instead he approached the young man, embraced him, and told the audience not to worry “for his life is in him.”

Unperturbed and tireless, Paul then helped serve dinner and resumed speaking until dawn. His spiritual alertness proved to be well founded when the man recovered. The next day, Paul walked twenty miles back to his ship, sailed the Aegean to Miletus, and a few days later gave yet another impassioned speech. The key to Paul’s poise, as well as his healing ability, is revealed in the message he imparted that day. He described himself as “serving the Lord with all humility of mind.”

“Serving the Lord with all humility of mind” is not an outdated concept. Right now, right where you are, doing so gives you the means to alleviate a sense of pressure or personal responsibility. The prayer to let go of a personal agenda and subjugate mental chatter in order to hear God’s message is effective. This inspired listening frees you from what author Abby Seixas (Finding the Deep River Within: A Woman’s Guide to Recovering Balance & Meaning in Everyday Life) has dubbed the “tyranny of your to-do list.” The tendency to chew and stew over one’s own opinions and impressions leaves little room for renewal and inspiration. On the other hand, a clear recognition that God directs our lives restores balance to thought and activity. Stress and overexertion indicate a temporary inability to behold God as in charge.

During a peak period of demands on her time, Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, detailed her own method of obtaining a precious sense of peace: “Three times a day, I retire to seek the divine blessing on the sick and sorrowing, with my face toward the Jerusalem of Love and Truth, in silent prayer to the Father which ‘seeth in secret,’ and with childlike confidence that He will reward ‘openly.’ In the midst of depressing care and labor I turn constantly to divine Love for guidance, and find rest. It affords me great joy to be able to attest to the truth of Jesus’ words. Love makes all burdens light, it giveth a peace that passeth understanding, and with ‘signs following.’ As to the peace, it is unutterable ...” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 133).

Love oils the wheels of activity, whether mental or physical. Have you ever noticed how a task that seems banal or burdensome to one person can be completely stress-free to another? An exuberant middle school student I know participates in everything from soccer to theater performances to competitive piano recitals, yet never appears anything but enthusiastic. I recently asked her mother how she manages all these activities (and always with a smile on her face). The answer was “love.” Her mother explained that her daughter loves what she’s doing so much that she loses herself in the activity. When she’s practicing the piano, she never looks at her watch and thinks, “How much longer?” because she loves to play. Consequently, she feels no burden. This is a good example of how losing oneself in love, leaves no room for stress or anxiety.

Love also motivated Paul. He was so eager to spread the message of God’s love to hungering hearts and so transformed by the power of this love, that no obstacle from stoning to shipwreck to snakebite could distract him and throw him off course. He wrote, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Chains of mental bondage as well as chains of physical imprisonment fell away as Paul felt and understood the power of this love.

The same urgent, genuine desire to bless others can break your own mental chains of repetitious, anxious thoughts. God did not create you to till the same mental ground again and again. God made you free. As I’ve prayed to maintain a more disciplined, less anxious thought—whether lying in bed at night, waking up in the morning, or carrying out the day’s demands—three steps have been useful in my prayers.

Acknowledging God

Starting with God puts thought on the right basis. Recognizing God removes thought from oneself. Gratitude for God’s blessings dispels dread and opens thought to good. Willingness to serve God with “all humility of mind,” as Paul did, directs our day. This is the humility which in the face of illness, accident, or extreme fear asks, “Father-Mother God, what do You see?” and trustingly listens for the answer.

Exposing anxiety

From the background hum of low-level anxiety, to sleeplessness and “night terrors,” the voice of evil is always a lie. Messages of fear, however mild or severe, are what John called “the accuser of our brethren ... which accused them before our God day and night.” In order not to uselessly suffer from “accuser” thoughts, which may repetitively parade as our own, it’s important to recognize them for what they are: unintelligent challenges to good. The “accuser” can only repeat, not create. These unintelligent thoughts often result in fatigue, whereas thoughts from our Creator bring rest and renewal. Spiritual alertness allows us to immediately recognize the mental chatter, expose it, and tune in to God’s messages of love.

Entertaining angels

When we understand or conceive of them as ministering ideas—instead of literal beings with wings—we can feel God’s angels everywhere. In the Glossary of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, angels are characterized in part as “God’s thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect.” We hear, entertain, these angels whenever we feel God’s deep love for us. These are moments of sweet healing, when shadows of pain, fear, and dread simply disappear in the atmosphere of Love. Angels quiet mental “static” and assure peace. When we entertain angels, our thoughts are undisturbed and ready to receive a blessing. And if you’re still worried about that to-do list, consider how Mary Baker Eddy wrote that angels not only “administer grace” but even “do thy errands” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 129).

Sometimes making the time to feel God’s presence means actively seeking the stillness that heals—no matter how difficult that may seem at the time. I’ve seen many proofs of this.

Once, on a foreign continent halfway across the world, our teenage daughter suddenly became very ill. I spent that night by her bed as she tossed and turned, unable to sleep, feel at peace, or find a comfortable position. She wanted help from a Christian Science practitioner through Christian Science treatment, and we contacted someone who immediately began praying for her and reassured her of God’s power and presence right where she was.

At one point, when she seemed to struggle the most, I reached out in silent prayer to our Father-Mother God with all my heart. The thought came to ask her to be as still as she could—if even for just a brief moment—in order to be able to hear and feel God’s message for her. At first, it seemed impossible for her to lie still, but moment by moment, she stopped tossing long enough to keep her thought quiet. As she relates it, in the first brief moment of obediently holding her thought still in prayer to God, a Bible verse she loves came to mind: “Be still, and know that I am God.” With that also dawned a deep sense of peace—an understanding of God’s control. She stopped moving around and fell into a peaceful sleep, waking the next morning completely well.

The power of God, Love, quells mental distress and sensory overload, however sensitive we may seem to be to our environment. To “be still, and know that I am God,” as the Psalmist wrote, helps not only ourselves but all who struggle in a culture that tends toward restlessness and information overload. We owe a stirred-up world our best understanding and demonstration of the God-centered stillness in which, as Paul proved, we all “live, and move, and have our being.”

Sara Hoagland Hunter lives in Weston, Massachusetts, United States.

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