Welcome to the Daily Still podcast, a place to pause.

Here we create space to listen for the whispers of God.

I'm your host Cindy Helton, and I believe one of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself

is room to be still.

In special seasons of the church, like Lent, Easter, Advent, or Christmas,

we tend to be more mindful of celebrating and practicing our faith.

In the church calendar, the time from the Monday after Pentecost until the first Sunday of Advent is called ordinary time.

We can look at this period as a time of living out our faith in the ordinary moments of life.

Creating space to be still before God daily is a helpful practice in staying aware of divine presence with us always.

The faith journey is a continual process. It often can feel like two steps forward and one step back. Have you ever felt that way?

There's a familiar story in Mark 16 after the resurrection of Jesus. It's very early Sunday morning,

and three women are going to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body. When they get there, the stone has already been rolled away.

And an angel of the Lord greets them and says,

You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth. He isn't here. He is risen from the dead.

Now, go and tell his disciples, including Peter.

There's some things I've been pondering as I consider that story, and the grace-filled beauty

in the angel's words. Go tell his disciples and Peter. My Bible commentary notes, the angel made special mention

of Peter to show that in spite of his denials, Jesus had not disowned or deserted him.

And as the story goes on, we read that actually all the disciples lacked faith that

Jesus had risen. Perhaps the disciples also doubted that Peter, or any of them, could still

be called disciples. And they find themselves facing an ordinary day with questions of their future.

I'm aware of how easy it is to wander and deny Christ,

...