Being Still in His Presence

A few years ago I came across a Word of the Year Generator that was created by a Catholic speaker and author.  A few days ago, I once again came across this word generator and decided to have a random word generated, just for fun.  The word that came up was “still.”  Curious about what other words would come up, I decided to generate a second word.  The second word that came up was “presence.”  While I had no intentions of having a “word of the year” and did not plan on giving much thought to the random word(s) generated, I quickly realized that I needed to see these two words, still and presence, as an invitation and a goal to work toward, especially if I want to experience more depth and growth in my spiritual life.

Most of us, from an early age, are taught that Jesus is always with us wherever we go and in whatever we do.  It’s easy for us to acknowledge this bit of truth in our minds.  Of course Jesus is always with us, we remind ourselves.  However, the real work we have to do is let this truth enter into the deepest parts of our hearts.  Everything changes when we know in our hearts that He is with us.  

How can we let this knowledge go from our heads to our hearts?  It starts with taking time regularly to recognize His presence.  This can mean reading scripture, devotionals, or other spiritual material, journaling, or going to adoration where He is present in the Eucharist.  All of these actions involve one key factor: being still.  We will never be able to fully know the presence of Christ if we do not take time to be still.  It is when we are still and open to hearing Him speak to us that we will be fully aware of His presence.  When we are fully aware of Christ’s presence, we are fully aware of His love.

​Maybe it was just a coincidence that in a random word generator, the two words I got were “still” and “presence.”  Nonetheless, there could not have been two words that go together more perfectly.  While it was a random and mindless activity, I know that having these two words generated is exactly what I needed to renew the habit of sitting still in the presence of Christ, particularly in adoration.  As many people might be thinking of ways to better themselves throughout this year, maybe you are being called to be still and become more aware of the presence of Jesus in your life.  How will you take time to be still in His presence this week?