It’s hard to be still when the world around us is constantly screaming in our ears to get moving. I don’t mean that we should be lazy and lay around all day instead of clean our houses and feed our families. Being still is different than zoning out in front of Netflix. It’s a purposeful rest.

But to be still when we have so many obvious reasons not to be? Well, that is plain hard.

Reasons like:  

1. If I don’t do it, who will?
2. They (insert names of loved ones) NEED me.
3. I don’t like the quiet because then I can’t ignore my thoughts.
4. If my schedule is full, I can go to bed knowing I’ve accomplished something that day.
5. She can do it all and she has one more kid than I do. I have to keep up!

Yeah, I’m not proud of these reasons but that doesn’t make them any less true. I’m just being real.

I’m learning, though, that my doing has no point if my motivation is self-propelled. Like an arrow shot straight up into the sky, no target means no direction. It may fly fast but eventually it’s going to come right back down and crash into the ground. Getting ahead of God is like that.

We have to spend time being still in order to do God’s will.

As I look at my life, I realize that the truly amazing parts of it happened because I asked God in a moment of stillness what He wanted out of that situation. I chose to be with Him first so I knew what He wanted me to do next.

It’s not a magic formula, mind you. Choosing moments of solitude with Jesus doesn’t mean that every road He leads you down will end up the way you thought it would. But I can promise you this- you will be much less likely to move without Him once you’ve started moving with Him.

This Christmas, as we focus on the One who was born into this world to die for all mankind, let’s strip away the excuses that keep us from meeting with Him first.

His life started in a manger and ended on a cross. Imagine for one second if He decided He didn’t like that plan and went His own way just like the directionless arrow? Just think about what it would have looked like if Jesus “wasn’t about His Father’s business” and didn’t “speak what His Father was speaking”? (Luke 2:49, John 12:49)

We would not know love, joy, or peace. We would not know hope, grace, or truth. We would be aimless and driven by selfish gain only to fall down hard to the earth. I don’t know about you but I need to know love, joy and peace. I wouldn’t be able to get up in the morning without God’s hope, grace and truth.

So, I seek the stillness despite my tendency to go in my own wayward direction. And He speaks to my heart every single time.