Stillness.
Keeping a Quiet Heart
Elisabeth Elliot

Stillness. Perfect stillness. It is very great gift, not always available to those who would most appreciate it and would find joy in it, and often not appreciated by those who have it but are uncomfortable with it. External noise is inescapable in many places – traffic on land and in the air, sirens, horns, chain saws, loud voices, and, perhaps worst of all, screaming rock music with thundering amplification which makes the very ground shudder.

I think it is possible to learn stillness – but only if it is seriously sought. God tells us, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).

The stillness in which we find God is not superficial, a mere absence of fidgeting or talking. It is a deliberate and quiet attentiveness – receptive, alert, ready. I think of what Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: “Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”