Be Still and Know God

How many times in a day do we stop and just not think of anything?Can we really be silent and still.
At our retreat on Saturday one of the things we talked about was silence and stillness.
In this country being still and silent is almost a national sin.Every one,young and old,feels a need to be in constant noise and motion.Cell phones,t.v.s,ipods never alone at any point through out the day.instant access is the key word.
When we think of meditation we think of religions like Buddhism or Hinduism.Only religious people like nuns,monks or priest can do this not us because were to busy,to sinful or just to tired or maybe we feel our family and friends will think were religious fanatics.
Probably one of the hardest things to do is be silent.Does 5 minutes seem like a short amount of time? try to silence your mind and be still and it can seem like an eternity.
I once read that our minds are like a pond when you throw a stone in the pond it causes ripples and does not allow you to see the bottom all seems clean because we are deceived by the ripples but when the pond is still we can see all the way to the bottom.Under the surface of the water are all kinda of things not just fish and frogs but also old tires,tin cans and broken bottles.When we meditate we have to deal with the bottom of the pond the good and the junk all the things we don't pay attention to when our world is in a whirl wind of ripples.
But in order to have a healthy clean pond we need to bring the muck to the surface evaluate it and deal with it, be it through confession or seeking help from our spiritual fathers.
Stillness,if done for a long enough period of time,can become something to look forward to.Discovering things about ourselves can be very up lifting and profound.It can give us insight and help us become more tranquil both inside and out helping us to keep our spiritual and human scales in balance.