The Head and the Heart: Let's Be Still

By Carolyn Shields

The Head and the Heart quickly became one of the most popular (dare I say it?) hipster bands in that ancient year of 2013. With a humble beginning in Seattle, Washington, the band formed after hearing one another perform at open mic nights in a local pub. Since 2009, THATH has released two albums, the latter hitting the air in the fall of 2013. This album, Let's Be Still, peaked at number 10 on U.S Billboard's 100.

So today I was staring vacantly out the window in my office, snow encrusting the stony gravel out back, when spotify threw this song on.

You can get lost in the music for hours, honey,
You can get lost in a room.
We can play music for hours and hours
But the sun'll still be coming up soon.

The world's not forgiving
Of everyone's fears.
The days turn into months, the months turn into years.
So just for the moment, let's be still.

And I'm all about "being still" here lately. Well, I try to be. Because I am. But not by choice. How CAN I sit in peace at the tax firm when there are so many books to be read and written, so many Christians to meet in different countries, babies to save, men to woo, testimonies to hear, hearts to heal by listening ears...

Psalm 23:26 says, "He leadeth me by still waters." But why would our Holy lead us past STILL waters? Isn't that...safe? Like a lake? Why doesn't it say tumultuous, roaring, rapid, clamorous, booming, high tide waters? The flash flood kind of H2O?

Because sometimes stillness is so incredibly more wearing than movement.

We are tired of waiting to be pursued, tired of waiting for love. We are tired of routine and repetition and the ordinary, tired of being quiet and idle. Tired of feeling flat. We want a stirring in our hearts, a whirlpool waterfall kind of motion but it is exactly in this stillness that The Head and the Heart sings of that a precious moment:

The world's just spinning
A little too fast
If things don't slow down soon we might not last.
The world's not forgiving
Of everyone's fears.

For a moment, just be still.

Our strength will be renewed as we wait upon the Lord (Isaiah 40:31).

In a recent dinner date, a friend and I talked about this restless battle between our head and our hearts. We know that God will provide, we know that what is happening right now will be used for a greater purpose, we know that we are where we are supposed to be in this moment, and we know in this stillness God is present. But sometimes our hearts don't want to hear it. Sometimes our hearts rebel against truths that we hold true, and this conflict between The Head and The Heart ("I don't want to be SAD anymore...I shouldn't be sad, it's been a year" kind of conflict) can wear us out. But Psalm 46:10 tells us, "Be still and know that I am God." Instead of feeling restless or impatient, instead of viewing our near and distant futures with anxiety, let us laugh at the days to come (Proverbs 31:25).

So why not revel in the stillness? Why not allow our strength to rise as we wait for our Holy?

Or try to anyway.

For a moment, just one to begin with, let's be still.