Be Still.

Last night after Stand (the Sunday Night College Ministry at First Baptist Church of Brownwood), Austin (First Baptist's Youth Minister) brought up a really good point that he said had been coming up a lot in his own life over the past week: people in general will not rest. We stress ourselves out and in these times of stress, afternoon naps and movies are merely used as tools of distraction away from our stress. These do not actually relieve stress or fix it, they simply hinder it for the time. People more often need to be told to just... be still.
This is on my mind because I happen to be mid-stress mode right now. Summer is technically 17 days away, there are 4 days of finals and every project that has been assigned in any of my classes seems to be due either this week or next. I have a test tomorrow and a book report on the most boring book I have ever picked up due Wednesday, and it all has to be finished today since I have work tomorrow. This still would not propose such a time constraint if it were not for the fact that tonight and tomorrow afternoon there are Chapel services that I have to attend in order to finish up my Chapel credit for the semester. My mind feels like it is going a hundred miles a minute, but no matter how much I seem to beg myself to just STOP and take a minute to refocus, I get consumed by worry: worry that I won't make a good grade on this test tomorrow, worry that I'll be up late tonight working on my biology book report which will make me tired at work tomorrow which will in turn make work ten times longer which will then make work ten times more dull....... my muscles tense up just thinking about it.

But then there's Psalm 46.
¹ God is our refuge and strength,
   an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
   and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
   and the mountains quake with their surging.
 ⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
   God will help her at break of day.
⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
   he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
 ⁷ The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.
 ⁸ Come and see what the LORD has done,
   the desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease
   to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields with fire.
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.”
 ¹¹ The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Reading that slowly is so calming. Reading the Bible and being in God's Word doesn't take our "to-do's" away. It doesn't necessarily make tests simpler and homework easier. What it does do though, is so much more valuable and important: it reminds us of who God is, and that no matter what, He is our refuge in good times and in times of trouble. He can be counted on no matter what, and there is nothing more valuable than a relationship with Him.
The end of school is near. The end of my freshman year of college is imminent.  Although everything seems to be colliding together and stressed within a two-week time constraint, God is always here: strong and unchanging. Reliable and powerful, full of understanding and love.

His love is strong, His love is great, His love is good.
Knowing that is more important than anything I could ever memorize for a test.