The Speed of Soul

The wisdom of three (maybe 4) wise women

Be still, my soul, and steadfast.
- “The Gift” Oliver, Mary. Devotions (p. 14). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

I read this line from Mary Oliver two weeks ago and I haven’t been able to really get into any of her following poems because I am stuck on this line.

Be still, my soul, and steadfast.

Her words were with me as I listened to a OnBeing interview with a woman named Amanda Ripley who said, “the pace of change...(list of things that are changing)...has so outstripped our capacity to process it, that it creates this profound anxiety and a sense of unease.”  I was driving about 74 mph on the interstate as the wisdom of these two women intersected with my life.  On the return trip on that same interstate,  I stood on the side of the road for this time lapse photo (the blue streak is a semi truck).  Even as I felt and heard the rush of cars and trucks speeding by, I could hear the lyrics of a song from a third wise woman called The Speed of Soul still playing in the car...Been traveling faster than our souls can go.

These intertwining wisdoms from Mary Oliver,

Amanda Ripley

, and

Carrie Newcomer

reflect my last few weeks.  Two weeks where I have both not found and not practiced times to let my soul be still.  Funerals.  Congregants in the hospital and facing significant decisions.  Lent starting soon.  Drives to and from a college town.  Other circumstances that have arisen.  I feel like I was not only driving 70+ mph on the interstate that day but living 70+ mph the last few weeks.  Been traveling faster than my soul can go...traveling so fast that I have not allowed my soul time to be still and to be steadfast.

The refrain of the song invite the soul to come back, come home.  Come back, come home.  As I come to the end of these two weeks, I feel that invitation.  I feel my soul saying, “come back, come home.  You’ve been traveling faster than your soul can go.”  Be still, my soul, and steadfast.

An unknown Psalmist wrote in Psalm 46:10...”Be still and know that I am God.”  Maybe that Psalmist was sharing from her life-earned wisdom as well along with these three 2023 women.

Come back, come home.  You’ve been traveling faster than your soul can go.  Be still, my soul, and steadfast.  Be still.