Things Too Big for Me
“My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.”
— Psalm 131:1-2 (NIV)
The image is precise and easy to miss. Not a nursing infant, calm because it is being fed. A weaned child, who has stopped screaming for the thing it wants and can simply sit with its mother. David describes a peace that comes after the wanting quiets, not after the wanting is satisfied. Three verses, the shortest kind of psalm, and one of the hardest to live.
Maybe it is a decision that belongs to your grown child. Maybe a situation at work you were not asked to fix. Maybe an outcome only God can hand out. Write them down and mark which ones are not yours. It takes five minutes.
Put Down What Is Not Yours
- 1Write three things weighing on you. Mark which are actually yours to carry.
- 2Read the others out loud and say after each: 'This one is Yours, not mine.'
- 3Ask one person how their week went, and listen without offering a solution.
Lord, quiet me tonight like a weaned child, and take back what was never mine.
Not everything I am carrying is mine.
Why a weaned child and not a nursing baby?
A nursing baby is calm because it is getting what it wants. A weaned child is calm without being fed, which is the harder picture of peace.
Is this psalm against ambition?
It is against grasping at what is not yours to hold. David was a king with real responsibility. The line is drawn at matters belonging to God.
How do I calm myself when my mind will not stop?
The psalm says David calmed and quieted himself, so it is practised rather than received. Start by naming what is not yours and setting it down.