“Mom”, I hear the distress call from my granddaughters’ room and stop what I am doing to go assist in some little crisis. There stands my daughter in the middle of the room looking at me with the face of despair. I turn my head and standing in her crib, tears streaming, red faced, with the same look of despair is my nearly 2 year old granddaughter. She appears to have stopped mid-tantrum with wide eyes to see what Grammie will do. With perfect stillness in the room, the seconds pass as I take in the scene and consider how I can help. My daughter has described the hair pulling, tight fisted, whole body assault this little angel had surprisingly unleashed against her Mommie. “What do I do?” The question hung in the air ready for an answer from Grammie, Mommie, or even little angel! A calm voice comes from my own lips asking if this could be a good time to practice the “time out” my Granddaughter had been learning to accept for consequences of mis-behavior. No-one moved, as if a wall had risen, until I walked to the crib and said “You cannot be mean to Mommie, so lets go to your time-out chair for your consequence”, using the same words Mommie usually does. The felt tension evaporated from the room and my little angel sat quietly and happily for her time-out. The whole scene was a slow motion glimpse into that moment when a choice arises how to respond in crisis… like any moment the choice is there!
Calmness feels like stillness, which is the perfect clue for getting calm! “Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10 He makes the storm a calm, so that the waves are still.” Psalm 107:29 I asked my 3 year old granddaughter what she thinks when I say the word calm. After thinking a few moments she said “Jesus”. How quickly do I remember this commanding power in the face of crisis? Mark 4:39, “And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still, And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”
Crisis has been around a long time! As a Mom of 5 I had plenty of practice making that choice to bring calmness into the storm, or not! Now, as Grammie I also have that choice and I know from experience my emotional reaction does not bring calm. The recent 2 years have been full of health, financial, and emotional crisis moments in my family but each time the calm has eventually come. I am thankful to have learned even better how to Be Still and help bring the needed calm through my responses. I have a role in the well being of my family and this responsibility is so clearly more about my ability to respond well now that I am Grammie than I understood under the weight of being Mommie. The source of calm is still the same though, remembering even the winds and the sea obey Him!
Renown Farm 
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