Mom Talk Monday: Be Still

It’s not even 8:30 in the morning and I have already cleaned up the kitchen, made breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen again, ate pretend food from my daughter’s kitchen and played Barbie with my 4 year old. Have you ever played with a 4 year old? It goes a little something like this:

4 year old: Pretend you see my Barbie doing blah, blah, blah.

Me: {Pretends to see what I am told to see.}

4 year old: Then my Barbie says this and your Barbie says that.

Me: {Repeats word for word what I am told my Barbie should say.}

And on it goes.

It turns out that, during this imaginative free play, my imagination is not necessary. I am just to do as I am told and she is quite content. And, I’ll be honest, I don’t mind it a bit.

The truth is that I’m not good at playing. I can teach. I can clean. I will make the homemade play dough and what not. But, to just sit down and play? Yeah, I’m just not very good at it. In the back of my mind, all I can think about is what I could be doing instead. I could be folding laundry or emptying the dishwasher. Or I could be painting the three different walls that the toddler colored on before I caught her. {Don’t let the cuteness fool you. That girl is sneaky.} I have a really hard time just being still – in mommying and in life.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him… – Psalm 37:7

Be still, and know that I am God… – Psalm 46:10

In today’s world, stillness doesn’t happen naturally. We are busy with work. Busy with fun. Busy making memories. Busy being busy. In motherhood, it doesn’t happy naturally either. There is always something else you could be doing. There is always work to be done and lists to be checked off and milestones to be documented.

My challenge to you, however, is to just be still.