A Stillness Practice for Presence Without Effort

On Stillness, Presence & Deep Rest

Stop trying so hard. This practice invites you into presence without effort — being with God without striving, achieving, or working at your spiritual life. Grace is not earned. Presence is not produced. Sometimes the holiest thing you can do is simply stop trying.

Many of us approach even rest as another task to accomplish. We try to relax. We work at being present. We strive for stillness. This practice asks you to release even that effort.

What would it mean to simply be, without working at it?

The Exhaustion of Spiritual Striving

For many, faith itself has become another performance anxiety. We are exhausted by trying to be good enough, spiritual enough, faithful enough.

• Feeling like you should pray more, better, differently
• Guilt about not being further along spiritually
• Comparing your faith life to others
• Treating meditation as another task to accomplish
• Working hard at rest and failing
• Never feeling like you are doing enough for God

If spiritual life has become another source of exhaustion, you have missed something essential. Grace operates in the opposite direction from effort.

The Grace of Effortlessness

The Gospel is fundamentally about what God has done, not what we must do. Grace means unearned gift. Presence with God is not achieved — it is received. You do not earn your way into relationship with the Divine.

Even your stillness is held by grace. You do not have to produce it. You only need to stop preventing it.

A Practice of Effortless Presence

This practice asks nothing of you except to stop asking so much of yourself.

Lord, I stop trying. I release the effort to be present — even that. I release the striving for stillness. I release the work of rest. I have made spirituality into another performance, another way to prove myself. I am tired. So tired of trying to earn what You freely give. Hold me in presence I do not produce. Surround me with grace I cannot achieve. Let me rest in what is already true — that You are here, that You love me, that I do not have to work for what is freely given. I simply receive. I simply rest. I simply stop.

After the practice, notice how much effort is still present. Release it. Then release the effort of releasing. Let yourself simply be.

Living Without Striving

When you notice spiritual striving returning, these approaches may help you release it.

• Notice when you are trying to produce spiritual states
• Release goals and outcomes for your prayer time
• Let stillness happen rather than making it happen
• Trust that God's presence does not depend on your effort
• Receive rather than achieve
• Remember that grace means unearned

Effortless presence is paradoxical — you cannot try to stop trying. But you can notice when you are striving and gently release it, trusting that what matters is already given.