Stillness

In the enormous complexity of our lives,

between breathing in and breathing out,

before eyes open and muscles stretch awake each day,

in that secret place of the soul where dreams and reality join,

where God’s presence dwells and is known,

there is the stillness.

between the broken rhythms and compressed moments

involved in rushing to and from work,

between the head jerking abrupt stops and nimble starts

or frustrated cries and angry looks, with words

uttered under a tongue no one cares to understand,

there is the stillness.

between the action of cars racing from one

lane into another in a continuous motion

where two moving bodies

both try to occupy the same space

and all destinations eventually come together,

merging into what seems like a single parading line of lights,

there is the stillness.

between the slapdash after school and weekend itineraries,

when parents taxi children from one

busy social activity to another;

from piano lessons to play rehearsals,

scouts to soccer, and baseball to ballet,

there is the stillness.

between the blurring flutter of a humming birds wings

as it darts from one brilliant blossom to another

or the quick smooth movements of a spider racing across

it’s web to descend hungrily upon the lost wayward fly,

or in the moment just before sunrise when light

spreads from east to west like a golden Japanese fan

folding out across a pale saffron colored morning sky,

or in the fluid graceful motions of a rainbow trout

swimming upstream to its spawning ground or

before the initial breath of a newborn baby when oxygen first

enters the small delicate pinked fleshed lungs

and marks the moment with a triumphant sound of outrage

and a puffed up rosy face,

there is the stillness.

before a small t-shirted blue jeaned boy playing marbles,

carefully takes aim at his opponents position and with a single

accurate thumb flick propels his marble across distant space and

then watches with delight as worlds collide, electrons swirl, and

singularities form to infinitely curve space-time,

there is the stillness.

or in the moment when a small young girl dressed in

a simple cotton dress, with patent leather shoes,

lace trimmed bobby socks, and a satin bow in her hair,

kneels down, before a Church’s altar,

on red and white needle point trimmed

cushions to partake in her first communion,

and with open hands and heart

receives first the wafer and then the wine,

and by that act also receives God,

there is the stillness.

And so the Psalmist writes,

"Be still, and know that I am God".

R. P. Starbuck