Heartfully ~Connie Lakey Martin, Editor
Quiet. Silence. A period of calm. An untroubled state, free from disturbance. An absence of sound. 
Inactivity. Tranquility. How long can you be still and quiet in a crisis? How long can you be still and sit idly by when wrongly accused? Not rushing to move others, scheming to make matters right, figuring to fix or tweak something, or someone? How long?
Sitting still? Self-indulgent? Of course it is. But God encourages that sometimes, to “Be still and know...” (Psalm 46:10). Not jump up and save the day. Although we are His hands in a world of chaos and need, God is God and He doesn’t always require us to take matters into our hands.
So how do you know when to move and when to be still?
My first thought in a crisis is to instantly get up, Do Something to try and right what is wrong. But time has taught me to first pause, remain quiet, turn to God and trust, confident He already has a solution and resolution. This helps even if– and especially before– I decide to jump up and try to save the day! My friends know me as mostly not quiet.
A good friend to have is like a star. They appear when it is dark, shining and surrounding you with silent wordless comfort.
The quiet gives you permission to feel peace, come to unhurried conclusions, to rationalize in serenity, to stew over, think out and think through, to wonder at alternatives.
To imagine. Suppose. Hope. Quiet solitude invites inner strength. Sanctuary. Time to turn longings into prayer, to search for the face of a quiet God and test your ideas before Him . . . Please God: This, that . . . or show me something better.
The quiet takes away pressure to be busy for perfection. The quiet Is perfecting.
Be still and think of God. “He will quiet you with his love.” (Zephaniah 3:17)
The quiet giveth. The quiet taketh away.
Blessed are the quiet, for they shall hear God.
Quietly yours,
~Connie
