3 | You Don't Need an Empty Calendar to Be Still
Last week, in Episode 158 of the Below the Circle podcast, I shared a phrase I used to say over and over during one of the fullest seasons of my life.“I just want to land.”Below the Circle ™ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.I talked about the difference between being present for your life and being present in it. I talked about how easy it is to circle above your own life (managing, fixing, planning, pushing through) until one day looks just like the one before it.I’ve been sitting with that topic all week, and today I want to take it one step further with you.There is another presence that comes in stillness that’s even more important than our presence.It’s His.Here’s what I mean.When we talk about being present, the focus is still quietly on us. It’s about what we notice, what we feel, and what we’re willing to show up for. That matters. I meant every word of last week’s episode.Also, there are seasons when even “being present” becomes one more thing we are trying to do well. It can become one more thing to manage. We can turn presence into a performance measure too.That’s where stillness comes in.Stillness is not something we produce. It’s something we need to stop long enough to receive.Stillness is where you stop trying to hold your everyone and everything together long enough to notice Who has been holding it all along.There’s a moment in Genesis I keep coming back to.Jacob is on the run. He’s tired and alone, sleeping out in the open with a stone for a pillow. He isn’t in a sanctuary or on a retreat. He has simply stopped because he can’t go any farther. He is depleted and exhausted.And in that stopping, God meets him.When Jacob wakes, he says, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it” (Genesis 28:16, NKJV).Let that settle for a moment.God did not arrive when Jacob stopped. God was already there.Jacob’s stillness didn’t create God’s presence. It made room for Jacob to acknowledge it.I think stillness does the same for us. It invites us to become aware of Him. And it lets us say, maybe for the first time in a long time: You were here. You’ve been here all along. I just didn’t know it.Psalm 46:10 (NKJV) says, “Be still, and know that I am God.”Some translations say, “Cease striving.” Stop. Put it down. Let your hands be empty for a moment.I love that the verse doesn’t say, “Be still, and then fix everything you notice.” It doesn’t say, “Be still, and get your spiritual life in order.” It says be still, and know that He is God.Which quietly means that you are not.You are not required to manage the whole world for Him. You were never asked to hold everything up. God holds what you cannot, and stillness is where your body and your soul finally get to remember that.You may be thinking: Stillness sounds lovely, Dr. Phyllis. But have you seen my calendar?I have. I’ve lived that calendar.So let me be clear. Stillness does not require an empty schedule. You don’t need an hour of quiet, a mountaintop, or a perfectly kept devotional journal.Stillness can be ninety seconds in the car before you walk into the house.It can be the first sip of coffee, taken without your phone in your other hand.It can be sitting in the bleachers, watching your child, and whispering, “You’re here, Lord. Thank You.”It can be one slow breath at the bedside of the person you’re caring for.What matters isn’t how long you stop. It’s Who you acknowledge when you do.Last week, I talked about the Prodigal and the moment he “came to himself.”There’s a line a few verses later that I want you to hold onto this week. Luke 15:20 says, “But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.”He was still a great way off.He hadn’t made it home yet. He hadn’t cleaned himself up or found the perfect words. And the father was already watching the road.That’s what I want you to remember today. You don’t have to reach some spiritually impressive place before God is with you. He sees you while you’re still a great way off. He sees you in the circling. He sees you at your desk, at the school, waiting in line for coffee, driving, in the hospital hallway, at the kitchen sink, and sitting in the car as you try to transition from one role to the next.You don’t earn His presence by being still. Stillness is how you finally notice that you never lost it.So here’s my invitation for this week. This isn’t homework. It’s just an invitation.Once a day, somewhere in the life you’re already living, stop for a moment. Then say, out loud or under your breath:“The Lord is with me.”Say it in the kitchen, at the practice field, in the waiting room, or at your desk.Then notice what shifts, even slightly, when you remember you are not carrying this day alone.Being present in your life matters.And knowing that God is present in it, and that He has been all along, is what makes it possible to land.It’s never too late to land.Dr. Phyllis𓂃𓏧♡✈p.s. In case you missed Episode 158 or want to listen to a replay:Below the Circle ™ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Below the Circle ™ at www.thedrphyllis.com/subscribe
