Excerpt from Psalm 46

"Be still and know that I am God."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

Around 9:15 one November morning I was driving on the Taconic Parkway in the mid-Hudson Valley.  Out of nowhere a large 6-point buck appeared as I was driving in the passing lane, giving new meaning to the Christmas song about Grandma getting run over by a reindeer.  I remembered all my country learnings and did not brake but drove through it.  It died upon impact, I got the car off the road, an ambulance came, and I spent the next six hours at the Westchester Medical Center receiving superb care. The deer spent way too long in the middle lane until some people finally carried him off the road. My adult offspring drove up from the city in a Zip Car to accompany me. I had CAT scans of the head, neck, and chest and ultrasounds of the spleen and more. I had a pretty bruised arm on the left and some very sad toes to accompany them on the same side. Getting out of the car after the air bags go off is not easy.

As the ambulance arrived at the hospital, the woman at the desk said, "Is this one the deer?"  I said "No, my name is Donna." A chaplain visited me in the emergency room, after I had been unceremoniously moved to a hallway to await the results of my many tests.  He prayed with me.  It was very beautiful.  He also got my name wrong, asking God to bless Dorothy instead of Donna, but I didn't care.

I have now survived breast cancer, ten years, being hit by a drunk driver and now a deer.  In each case, the scripture that mattered most was Psalm 46.  "Be still and know that I am God."  Being still, even if people get your name wrong, is a place beyond serenity.  It is being really broken and also being really well, both and, not either or.  Standing on the side of the road, awaiting care, all I could remember to say to myself was "Be still, and know that I am God."  Same thing I did with the drunk and the mastectomy.  By these words, I sensed that God was nigh. God is nigher than nigh, especially when we find ourselves scared stiff.

Prayer

Thank you God for the warm fundamentalists of my youth who insisted I memorize scripture and showed me how to drive through things.  Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press. Check out her work at www.judson.org.

The Daily Devotional is now on Facebook. Become a fan!

Sign up to receive Daily Devotionals

More items written by the Stillspeaking Writers' Group