The Evening Stillness

The evening stillness in the midst of twilight was so still my walking in it seemed like an intrusion.  No animals scurried across dried leaves, no birds flitted on barren limbs, no wind stirred the air, and wind chimes hung as if overcome by death itself.  There was no breath moving upon the earth.  The red rays of evening sun fought valiantly against the overhanging grayness in a silent struggle, but there were no warring sounds to be heard.  I should have stopped.  A moving body did not belong midst such stillness. 

 

Yet, I slipped on out of the things so still around me to sounds and lights of the beckoning house filled with the things of home.  In the midst of the final steps out of the stillness, the air suddenly seemed filled with the sounds of a Voice speaking about the need for stillness within.  A Word from the Psalms came roaring in my spirit, "Be still, and know that I am God..."  (Psalm 46:10)  Within the time it took to take a few steps, the Holy Spirit used the creation and the Word to speak a clear word about a need of the soul. 

I wondered how the stillness in which I had walked could unfold within my inner being.  There always seems to be competition between the stillness and the movement of so much all around me.  There is always noise, clutter, and folks like me scurrying from one place to another.  Ah, the stillness.  Perhaps, knowing and experiencing stillness in the soul is like walking midst it in the evening.  It comes as a blessing from the Creator God in such surprising and unexpected ways.  It comes to our soul not according to our plans and efforts, but as a gift of grace in which to walk for a moment with a heart filled with gratefulness.