"Be still and know..."

My sweet Cora had a birthday last weekend.  I’ve spent much of this week thinking of teeny-tiny (9lb 6oz) baby Cora cuddles because squishy, baby cuddles are one of my love languages. They’re my version of manna from heaven. They’re so peaceful and uninhibited.  There’s something about a newborn that feels so very close to God.
 
Now, of course I have much larger 17- and 10-year-olds.  It’s considerably harder to get them on my shoulder and carry them around for a cuddle, but I still find peace, love, and a whisper of God when I watch them sleep. On my most exhausting and difficult days, you can almost always find me spending a few minutes watching my girls sleep. When they’re sleeping so peacefully, it’s impossible not to marvel over all God has planned for them, all the “becoming” they are doing as God’s children, all that is amazing and wonderful and in the image of God about my girls.  
 
It is this particular parenting activity that has made me totally reassess the meaning of one of my favorite scriptures, Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.”  I’ve always thought it to only be that we need to be still so our body, mind, and soul can have enough space to remember that God is God. And I DO still believe that. But watching my children sleep makes me think that maybe sometimes God wants us to be still so God can marvel at the miracles we are--so God can truly gaze at all the “becoming” we are doing and see all the parts of us that are in God’s image. 
 
On my most stressful days, when I am feeling blue or “less than,” I like the idea of God marveling over me when I sleep. I like to remember that any God that is “The Father” loves me as overwhelmingly as I love my girls. God loves us--every single one of us--in a breath-taking, awe-filled, can’t-take-my-eyes-off-of-your-amazingness kind of way.
 
Be still.
Leslie Bowers
Director of Creative Services