I think I've found my motto psalm for 2022!
Psalm 131 from the Message Bible:
God, I am not trying to rule the roost,
I don't want to be the king of the mountain.
I haven´t meddled where I have no business
or fantasized grandiose plans.
I´ve kept my feet on the ground,
I´ve cultivated a quiet heart.
Like a baby content in its mother's arms,
my soul is baby content.
Wait, Julia, for God. Wait with hope.
Hope now; hope always!
Brilliant, isn't it? This ridiculous and funny view of our attempts to rule and dominate! It´s good to take it with humor. And our behavior often really is childish.
-To rule a roost or a chicken ladder! Picking my way up in the pecking order in the chicken coop, so that everyone dances to my tune, and I have the best place at the top.
-To be king of the mountain, the person who determines how the others are allowed to get closer and who tries to observe if they are cheating or doing anything wrong.
-Meddling where I have no business. (No comment!)
-Fantasizing grandiose plans on how to become famous and successful.
-Is my head up in the clouds or do I keep my feet on the ground?
I don't want to do any of that. I don't want to be proud and bossy.
But that´s what I want to do:
-Cultivate a quiet heart.
I like this expression: to cultivate. According to the dictionary, it means to improve by labor, care or study. It definitely means work and discipline!
You can also cultivate plants by creating optimal growing conditions. And since my heart is like a garden that I am to cultivate so that God's seed can grow well in it... I want to cultivate a quiet heart.
When is my heart quiet? When it is full and satisfied. (Although then it can also chuckle with joy!)
-The psalmist writes that his soul is as full and content as a baby in its mother's arms. But that doesn't mean work, you only need a mother! When I cultivate a quiet heart, I know what fills me up, or rather, who!
What I need and really want, I get from God. Not by taking care of it myself, not by fighting my way up. But by letting myself be taken up.
If childish, then right!
-Wait for God, my soul! He gives you what you need. He doesn't forget you. He doesn't overlook or overhear you. He loves you like a mother. He's there.
Don't despair if you can't make it and your heart is restless. Don't lose hope!
Wait with hope. Look forward to what he will give.
And it is so much more comfortable to be in his arms than on a chicken ladder or on a lonely mountain.
