Bob’s Banter | Be Still

I guess it happens to all of us, we get so caught up with rushing and pushing and getting things done that suddenly we find we're not just pooped but also feeling a little depressed. It happened to me few weeks ago, when caught in the whirlpool called life I found myself going down.

That night while trying to sleep I felt the light on my cell phone blinking and looked at the message, it was, "Be still and know that I am God!" I smiled. It seemed a message from Someone who'd been watching his child floundering and had decided to tell me in two simple words; Be still!

Be still: It was a command; stop wriggling, stop moving, stop, just stop rushing around, stop getting worried, stop, STOP and let me handle things.

Many, many years ago, I remember a little plaque hanging on a wall in my childhood home. It had a worn out picture of a sparrow and a robin and as I peered at it I could decipher words, which went like this:

Said the robin to the sparrow,
"I should really like to know,
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so."
Said the sparrow to the robin,
"Friend I think that it must be,
That they have no God above,
Such as cares for you and me!

Is that the truth? Is that what the birds think when they look at us with those disgusted eyes from the tops of trees and lampposts, wondering why we don't just connect to Someone above who is just waiting for his children to connect with him.

I tried everything those few days when I was hassled; deep breathing exercises, breathe deep all the goodness you can and exhale all the negative thoughts. Again, and again and again, all the breath my lungs could take, then somebody suggested a massage man who would give my legs and knees a good malish, "He knows all the acupressure spots on your feet that cause worry!"

So it was malish and deep breathing, deep breathing and malish, but finally a message from above solved it all.

A group of Americans made a trip with Brazilian natives down the Amazon River. The first day they rushed. The second day they rushed. The next day they rushed. One day, anxious to continue the trek, they were surprised to find the natives seated together in a circle. When asked the reason for the delay, a guide answered, "They are waiting. They will not move further until their souls have caught up with their bodies."

You owe it to yourself this New Year to 'BE STILL' and let the Divine catch up with you!

ROBERT CLEMENTS is a journalist and newspaper columnist. His daily humour column Bob’s Banter is published in over 30 newspapers and magazines in nearly every state in India, as well as in the top newspapers of Bangladesh, Dubai and Pakistan and is also translated into Hindi. He has a daily readership of an estimated 6 million readers. You can e-mail Robert Clements at editorial@theteenagermag.com with the subject line ‘Bob’s Banter’