Being Still

I am an early riser. Always have been (well, except for those few teen years-and even then I was UP early, I just went back to bed) As a child what I disliked most about sleepovers was staying with friends who looked on mornings as a time to sleep...in fact it is still what makes staying with friends uncomfortable for me. I'd be awake with the proverbial chickens, my friends would remain in the arms of Morpheus & I would, in my extreme shyness feel trapped, needing my friend to act as a buffer with her family. But this is not about childhood trauma, but stillness.
I love the quiet, the stillness of early morning. If more spring like conditions ever arrive here (winter is hanging on fiercely this year) I will look forward to taking my coffee outside to watch the sunrise, listening to early birdsong and the world waking up. It is in these quiet moments my heart is fully quiet too. The pre-dawn hour is my favourite time to reflect, to pray. Robbed of this, which sometimes happens, for all my careful guarding of it, I find my day a little more chaotic, stressful, lacking in peace.
One of my favourite scriptures is Habakuk 2:20 :But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him", as well as Psalm 46:10 " He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
In our busy, always "on" world and 24/7 lives it can be hard to appreciate, to even find the quiet.
Because I am quiet, and because I like quiet places I have struggled with being labled as idle, lazy, even cold or snobbish. In these quiet places in fact I am preparing my heart & my mind for what might be coming next. It is in the quiet I hear God speak and words flow, allowing my gifts to sing. In the quiet I find the strength to stand my ground against the trials I must face.
To my mind being quiet, having that "quiet time" is essential preparation time. Before God parted the Red Sea for the people of Israel to be utterly free of Egypt Moses told them to "not be afraid" to "stand firm" and to "be still" (Exodus 14:13-14). In Ephesians Paul admonishes us to "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." (Ephesians 6:13). There is no passivity in such stillness, but strength,& preparedness. Mothers with small children know the value of quiet time, putting little ones down for a nap & allowing time for mom to recoup, have a much needed break from demanding little hands and voices (don't you love them all the more when you've had a break from them?) I have to wonder what the world would look like if we all had a quiet time, a quiet place to retreat or to start from again.
What do you think? When you you enjoy quiet?