Steadfast

             You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. (Isaiah 26:3)

How do you read this verse? It’s easy to read it to the comma, at least at first, but the last phrase is ambiguous, at least in English. Is steadfastness the cause of the trust or the result? Do the steadfast trust, or are those who trust steadfast? I suspect that the answer is “Yes.” The steadfast trust and their trusting produce steadfastness.

If this is so, how do we build steadfastness? As an experiment, think about someone you know. Better yet, pray for them. When your mind leaves the subject of that person, open your eyes. Go ahead, close your eyes now.

For how long did you think about or pray for the person before another subject presented itself, or you were distracted by noise? If you’re like me, you probably didn’t even get your eyes closed. You were already thinking as much about how long you could do it as you were about the person.

This is the problem with trust. We want to trust, but seconds after we take a deep breath and say, “I’m going to trust God,” our minds are wandering to another subject and circling back to the dreaded “what if.” And beating ourselves up for not being steadfast my develop steadfastness, but only because we end up steadfastly beating ourselves up. Somehow, it seems easier to be steadfast about things we shouldn’t be steadfast about – or even be thinking about.

The author of Practicing the Presence of God advises us not to be upset about this. We can only do what we can do. When our minds wander, instead of beating ourselves up, he suggests that we calmly turn our attention back to the subject without recriminations, rather like we would return to reading a book when our minds wander while reading.

The other key that comes to mind is that we learn to exercise our minds, to practice concentrating on one thing – specifically on God. Journaling is probably my best way to stay focused. Taking notes. Reading and listening. All of these can help us with steadfastness, which will help us with peace.