Be Still

I read a blog post written by an artist & writer whose work takes her away from her home by traveling to large cities and other countries.

Recently, having completed her work in New York City, she had planned a few days of leisure in which she would visit exhibits, take in a couple of Broadway shows, eat well & shop.

On day two of her scheduled downtime, she found herself having an intense longing to return to her hotel, curl up on the bed and read. At first she attempted to talk herself out of such ridiculousness! 'I'm in New York City, for heaven's sake! I can read when I get home.' Yet her longing to be still triumphed over her mind's rants of practicality. She spent the remainder of her day in quietness while the relentless cacophony of New York City continued outside her hotel window.

We all have moments, likely more than we are even conscious of, in which our soul simply yearns for stillness. Yet we ignore the quiet invitation to take a moment of repose choosing instead to scuttle about with distracting activities. We need to take a lesson from our bovine friends. We need to lay down under the shade of a tree and ruminate.

In days of old, kids were chastised for 'wool-gathering'. In our generation, we need to do more of it.