BYU Speeches “Be Still and Know That I am God” | Shayla Bott | March 2026
Mar 10, 2026
Shayla Bott, Associate Dean and Dance Department chair at BYU, speaks on slowing as a spiritual practice. She explores making time special, practical slowing habits, solitude and sacred spaces, and how quiet attention deepens revelation. Short, intentional acts and waiting for the soul to catch up are highlighted as pathways to authentic devotion.
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Waiting Lets Souls Catch Up
- Waiting can be spiritual recovery: the African porters story shows bodies waiting for souls to catch up.
- Bott uses this tale to expose haste as harm and to validate intentional pauses for soul alignment.
Use Solitude To Receive Stillness
- Seek solitary places regularly for spiritual replenishment like early prayer, temple attendance, or Sabbath reflection.
- Bott names the temple, sacrament meetings, and morning scripture study as accessible 'desert places' for stillness.
Time Reveals True Worship
- Where you spend time reveals what you worship; attention is the beginning of devotion.
- Bott links David Foster Wallace and Mary Oliver to show time allocation exposes spiritual priorities.
