Be Still, Be Silent, Be Tranquil

VISION is a wonderful thing. It captures essences we wouldn’t ordinarily touch. God graces us with some visions, the firing of the imagination if we will, in order to communicate to us; ours is to discern what the Lord is saying. That can be the hard part.

As I think of a vision that promotes stillness of soul, I’m encouraged to contemplate the natural environment, and though I’m definitely a land-lover, the sea – or being under the sea – really appeals.

I can imagine sound is different on the ocean floor. The sun is not too harsh. The temperature of the water is cool. And notwithstanding the hazards of the ocean, it feels safe down there.

Being still, likewise, experiencing a safe soul stillness, is about being positioned to just be.

Being silent, and not just from an auditory viewpoint, is the capacity of a safe strength. Being silent isn’t about pretending that life is perfect and rosy, but just like is communicated in Psalm 131, there is that sense of having been weaned from dependence – oh, that is dependence other than God-dependence.

Being tranquil, in spite of all that noise that goes around, is choosing to depend on nothing but God alone. It’s about learning to strip away every other distraction, so we might be truly anesthetised from the worldly components that frustrate and overwhelm.

Be still – be silent, before God – be tranquil in his Presence

Or we might better put it, as if in prayer language:

Help me be still – silence my soul, Lord – help me be tranquil

Help me know your tranquillity by experience

Help my mind be at rest; my heart sated with you alone

Help me be still

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.