Be Still

Be still and know that I am God - Psalm 46:10

To be still (Hebrew raphah) meaning:

to go limp, to allow to slack, to drop ones hands from work.

In my last post, I mentioned  my daughter had her tonsils removed. Although her surgery went very well, she unexpectedly hemorrhaged a few days following the procedure. This required emergency surgery which was very frightening.

As they prepped her for surgery, things moved at a hectic pace. Unlike the first surgery, nurses weren't explaining what would come next. In fact, the OR Nurse began the IV process without saying a word. Unfortunately, since my daughter was already losing a good deal of blood and was dehydrated, the process proved difficult.

Very understandably, my little one began to cry, and cry hard. It hurt. She was scared. As an adult, I knew what they were doing was very necessary, but as a mom I felt more than helpless.   All I could come up with was to lean down and kiss her forehead, whispering over and over as they worked, "It's okay to cry, baby. It's okay. You're only job is to hold your arm still.  Just hold still, baby, for a little bit more, just hold still."

In the past few days, I have thought often about this scene. Very thankfully, my daughter is at home, doing well. Our trial, although scary, was short lived and quickly resolved. Sadly, I know there are many of you who are facing frightening, hurtful things that will not so quickly end. Broken hearts cannot be mended through surgical procedures, the loss of dreams cannot be re-infused with an IV.

I know some of you very personally, and I love you deeply, but like with my daughter, I find myself helpless to know what to do or what to say. Once again, all I can come up with is, 'It's okay to cry. It's okay to be scared. Your only job is to hold still.'   

Some of you I don't know at all.  I have no idea what your day holds, but I'm going to pray for you anyway.  I'm going to pray that, at least once today, you'll let yourself go limp, that you'll drop your hands and simply be still.

In the light of who He is, may we all be infused with hope. Whether today brings us joy or sorrow, may our finite hearts, trust in His infinity. 

May we, if just for one moment,  simply be still.