Come to the Still Waters and Be Restored

We live in an anxious age and active age. Our phones have often become our closest companion and screens are ever present. Silence and stillness are often avoided. So many voices demand our attention to the point that we feel we are losing ourselves.

In Psalm 23, God calls us to the green pastures, to the still waters to be restored. We need solitude and silence to hear his voice. He is the Lover of our soul and has much to say to us. Getting away can be very difficult and in my experience with people, each one has to find a way that fits the present season of life. But it is necessary.

Being in solitude can be scary. “What do I do when all the questions I have, all the thoughts I have avoided come crashing in.” Sometimes, you have to move slowly into the stillness so that you can leave the busy world in which you live and enter the rest. It is a time of transition. We are told that the things we see are temporary, but that the unseen is eternal. To come into the solitude and silence is to enter the sanctuary.

In her book Soul Bird: Poems for Flying, Deborah Anne Quibell includes a poem “Let the Silence Nestle In.” On a recent call with my spiritual director, she read the poem to me. I give it now to you to help you enter the sanctuary. Enjoy his company!

Find a calm corner in your heart.⁠
Take the voices of others⁠
and ask them, politely, to wait outside.⁠
Close the door.⁠
Peel the whispers from the walls⁠
and stack them neatly away.⁠
Sweep aside the dust⁠
and lovingly smash the clock.⁠
Invite the soft grass from the fields⁠
and call, quietly, upon the wind.⁠
When she arrives, smile⁠
and gently blow your confusion,⁠
your frustration, and your ache⁠
to her care.⁠
Lay down.⁠
Relax.⁠
Let silence nestle in.⁠
This is your space⁠
undisturbed and sacred.⁠
After some time here,⁠
the stars will appear⁠
to show you the coordinates⁠
of your next destination.⁠
You don’t have to know the map.⁠