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The psalmist writes, "Be still and know
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that I am God. Not eventually, not after
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you have solved your problems, organized
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your life, removed all obstacles. Be
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still. Now, in the midst of it, there is
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something in the modern world that has
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made stillness feel like surrender, like
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a luxury only the privileged can afford.
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The world tells us, "Move faster,
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optimize more, outpace your competitors,
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stay ahead of failure." Stillness looks
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like weakness, looks like giving up. But
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consider what actually happens when you
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stop. When you cease the constant
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motion, the constant strategizing,
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the constant self-p protection,
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something emerges. Not passivity, not
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laziness, clarity, a kind of vision that
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is only possible when you are not in
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motion. A runner cannot read the
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landscape while sprinting. A sailor
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caught in his own wake cannot see the
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harbor. Isaiah speaks of this too. You
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will keep in perfect peace those whose
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minds are steadfast because they trust
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in you. Notice the condition. A mind
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fixed, not darting, not fragmented
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across a thousand anxieties and plans. A
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mind that is anchored to something
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immovable. Stillness before God is the
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training of attention. It is the
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practice of bringing the scattered
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pieces of yourself into one place and
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offering that unified self to him. Not
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as a performance, not as a spiritual
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achievement, but as a return, a coming
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home. This is not meditation in the
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sense the age practices it. This is not
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emptiness. This is the opposite,
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fullness, the filling of the soul with
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the presence of God. And in that
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presence, something unexpected happens.
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The very things that demanded your
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frantic attention begin to look
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differently. Not because the problems
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have vanished, but because you have
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encountered something larger than your
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problems. The still mind knows something
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the agitated mind cannot grasp. That God
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is trustworthy. Not because life becomes
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easier, but because you have stopped
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long enough to remember who you are and
