What My Back Problems Are Teaching Me About Quiet.

I want to talk about quiet. 

Recently, I’ve had some trouble with my hips. They don’t agree with each other, pull in opposite directions, make my legs different lengths, and wreak havoc in my back.

After a trip to the chiropractor, who explains that my hip and leg muscles are ridiculously tight and that this is pulling everything out of order, I start stretching more. 

Every night, before bed. Fifteen minutes. No music, no talking, no people. 

And this time of stillness is now sacred to me. 

My family is working to memorize a bible verse per week, and so I go over it. Every phrase. Every sentence. 

As the unruly muscle release their tension, I can feel my worries being released as well as I dwell God’s word. 

“And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28.

What does it mean to be called according to his purpose? Am I walking in that?

Rain is pounding down on the window. I love hearing the sound of rain. Would I have noticed it if I had been doing something more noisy, less still?

God works all things for good for those who love him. That is a promise. Do I choose to believe it?

This mind-wandering-body-stretching time is filling my mind. Some forms of meditative stretching seek to empty the mind, but I am learning that these quiet moments are often when my mind works best. It is in these times of silence and stretching and stillness that God reminds me of little things.

I’m finding it over and over in scripture. 

Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalm 37:7 Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act.  

Isaiah 37:7 The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.

Stillness. 

It’s not the same for everyone. There are different ways to be quiet, to be still before God.

But slowly, I am learning Psalm 23 as a practice. 

He refreshes my soul. 

I am deliberately choosing stillness for the refreshing of my soul.