Quietness and Confidence

August 17th, 2010
· by admin · Filed Under: Faith · Guidance · Spiritual Health

“In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15)

In our last newsletter and blog post, we talked about the importance of the open door and the now moment, of clearing your mind of doubt and letting God direct your steps in how you spend each precious God-given day.

In this message, by no means do I want to diminish the importance of the open door and the now moment, but I do want to focus a little bit on the need for quiet, the need for silence, and periods where you can enjoy open areas of consciousness where you sit back and relax and just know your oneness.

We are living today in a period of speed and accomplishment, and we go more places and do more things in less time than at one time would seem imaginable. Without a doubt, it is the spirit of industry and ingenuity that has made our nation great. But I think we have come to the place where we must make a decision whether the machines and technology we have created are going to master us or whether we are going to master them; in other words, to dance to a little different drummer and keep ourselves in tune with the rhythm of the universe.

Whenever you feel that you have so much to do that you can’t possibly get it all done, then that is the very time to stop and take a break. If you go forward at this point, trying to do what you believe cannot be done, it is unwise and possibly dangerous. You have lost your focus, you are out of attunement, and you are out of the rhythm of life. And when you are out of rhythm then you are susceptible to all sorts of problems, accidents or anything else.

In a study a few years ago some specialists said that they were more concerned now, when a person had fallen and broken a bone, with why the person had become out of tune with the universe that caused the person to fall than the actual break in the bone. The idea behind this is that when a person is in tune on the inside with the rhythm of life, then there is always a compensating factor whereby he or she can adjust to the conditions on the outside.

If at any time you find yourself in a hurry, the need often is to pause for a moment; just allow yourself to get still and get yourself in tune, getting the thought of hurry and its related worry out of the mind.

There is a scripture that is helpful in these times: “In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” (Isa. 30:15 KJV)

Quietness would seem to suggest something soft and easy – but it really isn’t that at all. Quietness is strength. Only the really strong person can be quiet, and only the quiet person is really strong.

One of the great problems of the industrious, ambitious person is that he tends to cram his life full of every activity conceivable, and he prides himself on never having an idle moment. His or her philosophy often is, “Keep busy, get things done, do it now.”

The emphasis on “Do it now” sometimes keeps you in a rush and a bind and in a pressure, whereas sometimes to let things wait for a little while will allow the unfoldment of the divine process. The need is to rediscover the pleasure of the pause, the pause that refreshes.

Sometimes the most urgent need in the midst of a feeling of urgency is to pause and relax. Quite often we make rush and urgency such a habit that we come to a place where honestly we cannot really tell whether we are rushing because we feel things are urgent or whether we feel things are urgent because of the habit of rush.

The reason we feel so tense about things that must be done is that we are not realizing our inward resources through which they can be done easily and well. “Wait on the Lord.” Put off doing the thing so as to dispel the tension that results from urgency, and then let the subconscious mind help you to organize your ideas and solve the problem for you. If you plunge into a thing with the thought, “I must get it done immediately,” you are cutting yourself off from the creative flow, that subconscious creative activity that does much of the work for you.

All of us need to relearn the art of pausing, and it is an art which takes practice and skill. We need to practice the art of pausing, the art of doing nothing. We need to make time and not wait to find time. In this way we can, as someone has said, “Let our souls catch up with our bodies,” and get in tune with the rhythm of the universe. And let us resolve that we won’t be rushed, that we won’t necessarily “Do it now,” for as the prophet of Ecclesiastes puts it, “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.” (Eccles. 3:1)

Remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.