Peace like a river - Photo Challenge Day 12

"Be still and know that I am God." -Psalm 46:10

I used to think I had cornered the market on crazy schedules. Between working (a lot) and keeping up with my two girls' schedules and all the traveling we do, I am always on the go. It's a self-imposed insanity, so I'm not complaining. But I had to recently pass the "Crazy Crown" over to a friend who I discovered is managing a madness much more than my own. She has three kids (girls, no less), plus foster kids, plus working, plus a husband who travels out of town, and when I saw her, she looked like she walked out of a fashion magazine. 

"How do you do it all?!?" I asked her when our paths happened to cross at Azteca, which is the restaurant that just happens to be both of our favorites. 

"I dunno," she said. "I just love what I do."

Amen, sister! Amen.

That's why today's photo challenge - a picture of something you love - for me, could only be one thing. 

I LOVE my quiet time in the mornings. Sitting out on my back patio, watching the sun rise with a steaming cup of coffee in my hands. It's the "still" moment before my spouse or children are up and at 'em. No cars can be heard on the streets in town. Now that it's getting warmer, the birds seem to have come alive, and they chirp happily in the trees. It's like all of nature is crying out, saying - Be still and know that I am God!

More than any physical position of stillness, God calls us to have a stillness in our hearts. Even more, a stillness in our soul.

He wants us to have peace, whether we're in deep seas or calm waters. It's a peace that only comes by having your little raft anchored to the cross.

As I sit out on my back patio each morning, the words to a favorite song often come to mind. These words remind me that no riot of a day will ever pull me under, as long as I have stillness in my soul.

When peace like a river attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say:
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control,
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and hath shed his own blood for my soul.

And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
even so, it is well with my soul.