joy in stilling and quieting my soul

I have been thinking all night and yesterday about how wonderful it feels to have "stilled and quieted my soul", as the psalmist of Psalm 131 said. For so much of my life that has seemed an unattainable state. There have been moments of it, but not a steady state, at least not on the inside. I am someone who often appears much more peaceful than I really am, attested to my sister and me recently when she met a receptionist who remembered me as such a calm and peaceful person. My sister and I both laughed, but we agreed that that is part of me, just as it is part of her. Again we both know that it is Christ's presence within us which makes us so, regardless of the storms in our lives.

But yesterday and today I am particularly conscious of this, and of my own part in it, as the psalmist says. I have made choices so that it is possible to be still and quiet. And those choices are not ones that mean I am inactive or unusually reflective. In fact I am very busy. During the garage sale yesterday I was strongly aware of this peace, and enjoyed conversations with people. It wasn't the money that mattered, which wasn't a great amount, but I so appreciated meeting people and learning about some of their lives. And by taking a load to the recycling room at the dump afterwards I was blessed with an almost new bedstead for Rachel!!

My great joy today is in the tangible quality of this peace, in my part in making it possible, in God's multiplication of that effort on my part, and of its presence at this time when my daughters are about to embark on their return flights from Uganda, spanning two days of travel through London, England, on Monday and Tuesday of this week.