As I sit down to write this morning, my mind is swirling. Like the churning waters at the base of a waterfall, my mind runs through an endless, repeating cycle. Yesterday’s to do list that I failed to complete, today’s to do list that is ever growing, numbers of people sickened with the virus in our area, numbers of people sickened by the virus across our state, concerns for family, concerns for friends, faces of people for whom to pray, questions about my next grocery order, questions about how the world will look when this is all over…
I try to silence my thoughts but to no avail. The cacophony in my head reaches a fever pitch.
“Peace. Be still.”
These words burst through the swirling, churning storm, flooding my mind with radiant light. The endless cycle of thoughts ceases. All is calm.
Take a moment and read the account of Jesus calming the storm in Mark 4:35-41.
As I read this passage this morning I am struck by several things.
The disciples were scared. Who wouldn’t be in their situation? But this storm must have been quite intense for this group, which included several professional fishermen, to be scared. Being in a boat was probably as natural for them as walking. Surely they had been caught in a bad storm before, but yet they were afraid anyway.
Jesus, on the other hand, is the picture of calm. Mark tells us Jesus was asleep with his head on a pillow! This is despite the high waves filling the boat with water and the certain screaming and scrambling by the disciples to keep it afloat. The storm was raging around him, but Jesus was peace. And when he spoke, his words cut through the din and all was calm.
The very presence of Jesus with them should have filled the disciples with peace. But they were preoccupied by the very real waves and wind.
We are living in uncertain times. We, too, are threatened by very real waves and wind. But Jesus is with us, and Jesus is our peace. Let us not be preoccupied by the waves and wind. Instead, let us take time today to sit in the presence of King Jesus, even as the storm rages around us and the wind and waves threaten to swamp the boat. May we breathe deeply and let his words break over us, calming our storm.
