Without going in to detail, these past few months have been some of the most challenging times I have ever encountered. As a family, it has felt like we have been hit on all sides by wave after wave of difficulty that has left me reeling from the shock – disorientated, weary and struggling to process what is happening! I have ‘hedgehogged’ at times – curling into a ball and rolling through – drawing on my own reserves as I have tried to manage or fix the situations around me. If I am honest with myself, I have also, at times, simply withdrawn – unwilling to pause and be present for fear that the emotion of the situation will catch up with me and I will crack under the pressure of it all. My mind has become a fug.

It’s crazy how quickly we can fall back into unhealthy bad habits!!

I am grateful for the gentle kindness of my Father God who has been present in it all and Who has patiently drawn my attention to His grace – reminding the hedgehog in me to ‘wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him’ (Ps 62:5) and giving me the courage to ‘Be Still.’

Isaiah 26:3-4 reminds us that ‘You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You.’ Life is still difficult, challenging and, at times, unpleasant right now but as I have allowed myself to be still and know God, I have found that my perspective has changed – and in the stillness I have encountered moments of peace.

I find that Stillness and Peace go hand in hand. In a world that is often full of chaos and brokenness, it is peace that many of us are seeking out. The original Hebrew word that is often translated as ‘peace’ in the old testament is the word ‘shalom’. In Jewish culture the word is used as a greeting – a way of saying ‘Peace be with you’. Translation can be a clunky business and words don’t always transfer between languages and cultures well – I think, this is one of those words that loses something in translation. The original word ‘shalom’ means so much more – it means wellbeing, wellness, wholeness, soundness, fullness, serenity, happiness, completeness! A word full of depth and richness that the simple word ‘peace’ isn’t quite big enough to convey!

Stillness, and the shalom peace that we find in it, is not just about sunny days when the waters of life are calm. Shalom wholeness can be found in the middle of the storm when we choose to be still and wait quietly before God.

I find that my days very easily become anything but peaceful and I quickly hedgehog – I need regular moments of stillness – liberally sprinkled throughout my day! Moments to remind me that God goes before me and remains with me. Moments when I can remind myself that things work so much better when I follow Jesus rather than steam on ahead on my own! Moments to be present and notice the goodness of God in my life. Moments to listen to the gentle guiding of my loving Heavenly Father. Moments when I am reminded that I am precious in His sight and loved more than I can imagine. Moments to allow the shalom peace and well-being of Jesus to settle my mind and my body.

And so, I have been exploring ways that I can punctuate my day with moments of Stillness – tiny reminders throughout my day that I am called to walk in rhythms of grace – that I am loved by God – that He cares for me and so I should care for myself too!

In the introduction to Stillness, we looked at how Breathing Prayers can create tiny opportunities to settle our attention on God – to remind us that, whatever we are working on, it’s about joining in with God’s story, not about writing our own. Here are a few further ideas to help us get started on our first or next steps into Stillness and help us punctuate our day with presence and peace.

• Enjoy a cuppa

As a teacher, I have the bad habit of never finishing a cup of tea! I have been trying to make sure that, at least once a day, I pause and ‘enjoy’ a full cup of tea. I am a tea rather than a coffee girl, and I have bought some special loose leafed tea to really enjoy – it’s a small treat but a tiny way to bring a moment of joy to my day. We also bought a stove top kettle a little while ago with the intention of deliberately sabotaging our rushing around mentality – though that may be a step too far for many 😉 – not sure I recommend that now with the energy prices!!!

• Take a leg stretch

Most of us do not have the freedom to build long walks into our work day but a 10 minute leg stretch is often do-able. I have found that taking a break from the screen and allowing my brain a short rest has really helped me avoid falling down a rabbit warren of over-thinking and working too intensely – which I am prone to do! I often just walk around the block – it’s not anything particularly glamorous – but just 10 minutes of fresh air and choosing to pause has been so helpful.

• Take a Worship Walk

I have always found that God has spoken to me through worship songs and times of worship have been times of encounter for me. I have created a ‘worship’ playlist on my apple music account (other music streaming services are available!!!) that I play on shuffle and listen through my headphones as I take a leg stretch! The number of times that the words of the song that has played have been just what I needed to be reminded of is incredible!

• Engage your senses

We are wonderfully made by an incredible creator God who gifted us with senses!! I find that engaging my senses in prayer is a beautiful way of meeting with God. When I have time for a longer prayer time, I often light a scented candle as a way of marking out that time as ‘special’. I quite like lighting an incense stick with a prayer that the fragrance of Jesus will fill our home – I’ve been known to do the same before going into a tricky meeting when I worked from home – may the fragrance of Jesus be in this conversation – tiny reminders to notice the presence of Jesus with me each day.

• Dig into Scripture

This is a very simple idea that Al and I heard of a while ago, based on one specific passage, and tried out for ourselves – we were blown away by the depth and richness we found in doing it.

Read Psalm 23 every morning and every evening for 40 days

Do it! I dare you!! For a very well-known scripture that I had read a million times before, I could not believe how much God highlighted to me that I had never thought of or noticed before.

• Start your day with Jesus

There are so many apps and books available to help us spend time in the presence of God each day – daily bible notes, bible reading programmes that lead you through reading the full bible, prayer apps, ancient rhythms and patterns of prayer to follow. In different seasons of life I have used different tools and resources. I am choosing to approach this with Grace! Previously, I have felt guilt and shame when I have missed a day or several! I don’t want to view my time with God as something I ‘ought’ to do out of duty. Feeling like that in the past has been a barrier to building a healthy rhythm of stillness, rather than an encouragement! Rather, I am choosing to set aside time and noticing the richness it brings when I do!

An app that I am finding particularly helpful right now is the Lectio 365 app from 24/7 prayer. It takes you through a 10 minute time of prayer based on a scripture that you can read along with and listen to on your phone. With plenty of opportunities built in to be curious and to listen to what God might be saying to you through the passage that day, I have found it a helpful and enriching way of spending time in the presence of God each day. I also love that the weekly rhythm is built around Sabbath and includes a more simple pattern of Sabbath Prayer on a Sunday.

You’ll find more info on the Lectio 365 app here: https://www.24-7prayer.com/resource/lectio-365/

Lectio Divina

The Lectio 365 app is based on an ancient pattern of prayer called Lectio Divina. When I have the luxury of a longer time of prayer and reading my bible, Lectio Divina is the tool I often use. It’s an engaging, interactive and Spirit -led way to read the bible which allows you to really savour, wrestle with, be challenged and encouraged by scripture as you spend time in the presence of God. You can find loads of information about Lectio Divina online – some of which is brilliant and some I find quite complicated and formal.

In a nutshell, you simply prayerfully read a bible passage through several times, being open to what God is saying to you through it. It’s a little like peeling back the layers of an onion as, each time, you ask God to reveal a deeper truth. The bible tells us that the word of God is living and active and I am often amazed at how God breathes life into the scripture I read – revealing things I have not noticed before. But using Lectio Divina has amplified this for me! Each time I have done it, I have been overwhelmed by how God has held me and spoken right to me with what I needed in that moment.

If you would like to have a go – I have created a simple tool to take you through my version of Lectio Divina. You can find it [here].

And to help get you started – here are some passages you could look at:

• Phillippians 4:1-9
• Psalm 1
• Matthew 11:25-30
• Romans 5:1-8
• Psalm 103

Can you carve out 20 minutes this week to have a go at Lectio Divina?