Stillness

There was a stillness to the look. I’d been swinging on the hammock when a slight rustle attracted my attention. And there he was. So close I could see the fuzz on his antlers.

He held my gaze and in that moment I felt the wildness of the creature before me, in the power behind its antlers, in the perfect balance of its body, in the quivering at its nose. It was a wildness that was a still as it was flowing.

Evidently having seen what he needed to see in me, the deer turned its head and headed away. I trailed it with my gaze until it turned a corner and was gone from sight.

But the stillness lingered, reminding me to this day the most beautiful things of this world can often go unseen. We live in a world of deadlines and stress and constant noise. To be still seems a waste of precious time. But it is in stillness that we can reach out and touch the eternal.

Here’s a challenge. This day find a moment to sit  simply be still. Quiet your mind of all preoccupations and to-do’s. You might find yourself seeing things you’ve never noticed before.

Psalms 37:3 Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over him who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!