The next sermon series is planned, calls to worship have been written, and hymns have been chosen. A dissertation outline is underway. Today, I am going to read a book … just because. Not a book on sermons or on Bible study … just a book. And my hope for today is to avoid the need to produce a thought. Not even one, if I can help it!
Not because thinking is wrong, but because I need the break. I love Easter and the season of Lent, but it makes demands. Ideas wrestled into a Bible study, thoughts shaped into creative services highlifting the last days of Christ on earth, worship services planned, and sermons written, rewritten, and prayed over. Holy work, yes… but still work. And the ever uplifting Christ the Lord Is Risen Today (organ included).
But, some days, my mind feels the weight of it. Don’t you feel that way sometimes as well? Like you’ve thought and thought so much that your brain feels tired and it needs a rest?
So, I am taking this day as permission. Permission to not think of anything new. Permission to not search for insight. Permission to let my thoughts be quiet.
Scripture offers an invitation that feels especially appropriate for today: “Be still, and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10
Be still — not inspired. Just still.
My plan is to read something that asks nothing of me. But if that doesn’t work, maybe I will allow silence to be enough. Go for a walk. Turn off the computer. God doesn’t need my thoughts today.
Do you have days like this? I hope so. Because sometimes it’s important to remember that God is still God … was, is, and forever will be.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the work you’ve called me to do, and for walking with me through it. But for today, help me release the need to do and show me how to simply be. Teach me how to be still and restore my mind as I sit quietly in your presence. Amen.
