Are you restless in your mind and soul? Are you unable to sit quietly? Focus on a book? Focus on prayer?
When I teach a Yoga class–which is mostly for strength and flexibility, but also for focus and calm–I end with several minutes of quiet relaxation. It’s interesting to watch the class and see who can achieve quiet and rest and who is restless.
Psalm 1 introduces the Psalms. It talks about how to approach the collection of prayers. It talks of meditating on them. And how people rooted in God will get closer to God but how many people are restless. These are like chaff–empty shells that are blown by the wind first one way then another.
I look around and see a restless world. Herman Hesse was said to be the first “modern” writer in the sense that the protagonist of Steppenwolf could not sit in his room quietly. The first thing he did when he got to his room was turn on the radio (radios were new at the time Hesse wrote).
Our society (especially American and Western Europe, but spreading quickly everywhere) is predominantly restless, unsettled, not rooted in value–like empty shells first blown this way then that. We require diversions. We require noise. We have many desires–but always just for ourselves. We want what’s ours, and we want it now. But when we get something there is no contentment. No resting in God. We just move on to the next desire that appears in our mind.
We need to stop for a time every day and contemplate on the unchanging fruits that come from God. With your roots reaching deeply into God, you can become a being that produces the fruits of love, patience, joy, peace, gratitude, service. I like to be around rooted people. How about you?
Faith Venture 
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