Be still and know that I am God." I read in this familiar verse from Psalm 46 two commands of equal importance. First, I must be still, something that modern life conspires against. Ten years ago I responded to letters within a couple of weeks and kept my correspondents happy. Five years ago I faxed a response in a couple of days and they seemed content. Now they want email responses the same day and berate me for not using instant messaging or a mobile phone.

When a woman lives with the stress of an overwhelmed schedule, she'll ache with the sadness of an underwhelmed soul.

Our hearts are restless, until they rest in You.

Sometimes the idea of living as a hermit appeals to all of us. No demands, no needs, no pain, no disappointments. But that is because we have been hurt, are worn out.

And when thou art weary I'll find thee a bed, Of mosses and flowers to pillow thy head.

The most important education you get is your own - the one you learn in solitude.

Faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.

With all this wide and beautiful creation before me the restless soul longs to enjoy its liberty and rest beyond its bound.

Inside, upstairs, where the planes are met, the spaces are long and low and lined in tasteful felt gray like that cocky stewardess's cap and filled with the kind of music you become aware of only when the elevator stops or when the dentist stops drilling. Plucked strings, no vocals, music that's used to being ignored, a kind of carpet in the air, to cover up a silence that might remind you of death.

We live immersed in a world of constant doing. Rarely are we in touch with who is doing the doing, or, put otherwise, with the world of being.

Never less idle than when wholly idle, nor less alone than when wholly alone.

We find no rest for our weary bones unless we cling to the word of grace.