Anyone that is a part of the Millennial Generation (if you were born before 2003), the title may sound a bit familiar. Belle said it to the Beast when she was trying to clean his wound after he fought off ravenous wolves trying to eat her for dinner (this is after she ran away from the castle when the Beast screamed at her for going into the west wing and almost destroying any chance he had at redemption by almost touching the enchanted rose). So, now that you know the back-story behind the title, as I was sitting watching the movie for the hundredth time, it dawned on me…this is probably what God is thinking when we continue to operate outside His will or go through life’s growing pains. It hurts, yes, but if we were to be still it probably wouldn’t hurt as much. He instructs us in Psalm 46:10 to do what we find the most difficult, be still.
If you’re anything like me, I move around a lot. It’s sometime difficult for me to be still; I always need to be doing something or I feel like I’m wasting time. I am constantly doing something unless I’m asleep, and even in my unconscious state I seem to be going through check lists, or running through my day, or trying to solve the age old question of what am I going to do with my life; it’s always something. Yet, God simply says, “be still and know that I am God…” It sounds simple enough, right? Wrong! As young adults, professionals, college students, we have this urge to move. But why not, we’re young, ambitious, talented, gifted, movers and shakers of the 21st century, why should we have to be still? We are go-getters, we don’t want to sit back and watch things happen; we want to make them happen. It’s in our DNA, it’s what we were born to do; make a difference, change a life, be a great mind, save a dying planet, educate the ignorant, grow young minds, entertain an audience of millions, sculpt the future, create, mold, live, love, experience, fail, innovate, discover…that’s a lot to expect of ourselves isn’t it? Maybe not, actually it’s not because it’s what we do, but in the process of doing and being great we are also instructed to “be still”.
As generations pass, society has expected more and more of the current generation, which is a realistic expectation, but we have also taken on the task of being not just good, but being exceptional. I'm right there with you. I had a conversation with some good friends and I told them that I had a fear of not being great. My biggest fear is being ordinary, but it’s also not an option for me. We do so much to try and get the most that life has to offer us, but in that we forget to stop and listen to what God has told us generations ago. Sometimes I wonder if it’s meant for everyone to go through such hard times in our lives? I know life wasn’t meant to be easy, but do you ever think we subconsciously make it harder on ourselves by letting our impatience and ambitions get in our way?
My prayer has always been to be great in the eyesight of God, myself and man, I know it is not supposed to matter what other people think because my reward is not on Earth, but in heaven, but I won't lie and say that I want to make a difference and not be acknowledged for it. I want to see my name in lights; I have big dreams, we all do! You all may think that I am being selfish and narcissistic, but we all have the desire to be recognized. Right now you’re being shaped into the person that you are meant to be. So yes, be a trendsetter, inspire the world with your words, carry on a legacy, rip the runway, be a spokesperson for change, leave it all the stage, be illustrious, become the next president, but remember that our growing pains are going to be just that, painful. Yet, in that pain remember what God instructs us to do, and if you have a hard time imagining or feeling the Spirit of God telling you to be still, hear Belle screaming, “if you’d hold still, it wouldn’t hurt as much!”
