Dear you - you who have had to be so strong for so long - I have good news for us today. We can slack off. Seriously! It’s even biblical.
I read Psalm 46 this morning which includes that beautiful (and sometimes seemingly impossible) invitation to “Be still and know that I am God” (v.10).
The Passion translation words it as, “Surrender your anxiety,” and it gives a footnote saying that the big, little word of, “still,” means, “Let go!”
Let go and know.
Let go and know that I am God.
For as many times as I’ve heard this verse, I’ve never encountered this version. It made me curious about the Hebrew meaning of “be still,” so I looked it up.
Sure enough, it doesn’t mean to sit quietly with hands folded, but rather to sink, to relax, to slacken.
And slacken, dear reader, means to lessen tension, to slow, to become gradually less strong, less intense, less tight.
Hello.
To become gradually less strong feels like a beautiful invitation to rest. To not have to hold it all. Yes, please. Sign me up.
Sink, slacken, and surrender your anxiety - for God is God, and God is near, “ready to help at break of day” (v.5).
The entirety of Psalm 46 tells us that God is our shelter, our strength, our stronghold, and our place of safety. It is this we can sink into. It is here we can slacken. Here we can surrender not only our anxieties, but our own sense of insufficient, try-so-hard, gotta-muster-it-all-up strength.
Selah (Pause and calmly think about that).
I think this is why I love my former closet, now sacred space room, so much. It is the place of safety where I can slack off and sink down into the strength of the One that holds me. I don’t have to be the strong one there.
Slack off!: Our Little Life Words of the week.
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DEEPER DIVE
Ponder:
Today’s scripture says to “be still (slacken) and know.” What “knowing” would enable you to slack off for awhile?
Practice:
To slacken is to lessen tension. Try this exercise of progressive muscle relaxation to experience this in your body.
Play:
The song we’re playing this week is: Be Still and Know by Steven Curtis Chapman.
Pray:
Cut me some slack.
Ahhhh…dear friend, a resounding “Yes!!!” Who among us couldn’t use a little slacking off?! It will all get done, it always does, somehow. I’ve recently embraced my human “beingness” and sometimes reject my human “doingness,” because, well, exactly what you said!
As always, dear Jenny, your words reach me and I resonate. How do you do it? I'll go slack a bit now... and know that I am held.