What do we hear when we stop moving and just listen? Instead of always striving for more to be happy, could we be content right where we are?
“But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.” (Psalm 131:2)
Any mother who has ever nursed a child knows the insatiability of that little baby. Newborns in particular spend most of their time either eating, crying to eat, or sleeping because they have eaten their fill. Then, they wake up and start again.
But over the months, babies usually wean themselves or are weaned by their mothers. And that baby that once snuffled and pressed against our shirt as though a magnet were dragging them there is now content to play and sit and eat more solid foods in our arms.
The world is a more interesting place and babies suddenly get distracted from eating because of a noise or movement. They watch and listen, no longer driven by the voracious need to do the one thing they know makes them happy – drink milk.
How often are we like that nursing baby? Driven day in and day out toward something that we may need, but to the exclusion of all else. Where no sound can penetrate our single-minded determination.
If you’ve ever tried to shush and calm a hungry baby, you know that they hear none of it. And neither do we.
We miss all the comforting sounds, the unbroken promises, the sense of contentment that comes from being satisfied where we are.
Being Content in Silence
God speaks to us, but it’s easy to miss. Noise in our environment. Chaos in our minds. Hearts hardened by circumstances and disappointment.
The pursuit of what we think will make us happy is never-ending, a striving that stops only briefly, when we think we’ve got it. But our satisfaction lasts only as long as a newborn sleeps (that is, about 30 minutes). Then it begins again.
But if we stop searching, stop seeking, and just sit back and be still, we will find that contentment was there all along.
We can find in the silence the heart-peace and mind-peace that only God can provide. We can feel content in his presence, knowing He will give us all we need when we need it.
A weaned child is content with its mother because it is finally old enough to know that she will not let him go hungry. She will take care of him. He trusts her.
We, too, need to trust God to care for us. To fulfill His promises and help us carry our burdens.
We don’t need to be someone else, do something else, or have something else. We don’t need more. We are enough. Not perfect, not without sin. But just as God made us. Where we fall short, Jesus bridges the gap.
When we are comfortable sitting in that silence and in our own enough-ness, then we can really begin to hear the words of God, His truth. And we can be content.
Will you join me in that quiet place today?
Have a blessed Monday!
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