Chill!

My now-adult children taught me a new vocabulary word, “chill,” implying cool it, let it go, leave me alone. My son’s housecat, “Rosebud,” expresses it better than anyone (or any critter) I know. She seems to consider it her royal privilege to take over the recliner and “chill,” despite the presence of two busy little boys, 18 months and three years, in the same room.

Oh, cats.

But I’m leaning that stopping to “chill” isn’t all that bad.  With the memory lapses of aging, I find myself writing a lot of “remember” or “do” lists. Those lists glare at me and point fingers as they say, “You can do this, don’t be slack!”  But even as I check off my tasks, underneath all that busyness rumbles concern for friends and loved ones troubled by family problems, illnesses, and disappointments.

But sometimes I get tired.  Out of steam.  I need to sit down in my favorite recliner, get those feet up, sip some water, and take a life break.  Do I continue to mull over those problems? Well, yes--until the Lord reminds me to “chill.”  Take a time-out, with Him, and in my nearby Bible.

One of my favorite psalms admonishes me:

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him. (Psalm 37:7 NIV).
“Be still” is also translated “rest” in the King James and New American standard versions.  It’s an interesting word in the original Hebrew, daman, and used only one other place in the Bible, in Job 30:27.  There, it is paired with a negative so means “not rest.” Job is complaining about his circumstances and his unsympathetic friends, so much so that he can’t “be still.”  Here’s how "not"-daman (not rest) has been translated (along with possible digestive issues they imply):
“My bowels boiled, and rested not.” (KJV)  [The "trots"?]
“The churning inside me never stops.” (NIV) [IBS? Bloating?]
“I am seething within, and cannot relax.” (NASB) [GERD?]

When I watch Rosebud “chill,” she certainly isn’t worrying herself into an upset stomach.  Sometimes she’s purring, happy to have a place for a time-out, at least until a busy little guy interrupts her solitude. Then she's off to another quiet place rather than fret (or growl) over the problem. (Sometimes, that "other place" is her S-curved scratching post.) Interestingly, the phrase “do not fret” occurs three times in the first eight verses of Psalm 37.  I think God is trying to tell us something about how we approach life....maybe that sometimes we need to take a “chill” break--with Him--for perspective.