Quiet and Still...

Take a minute and, just for yourselves, take a little survey for me. For you out there that don't work outside the home, how many days during the week do you not go anywhere all day (excluding carpool drop-off and pick -ups if you just go there and back)? If you work outside the home, how many evenings a week do you find yourself not going straight home...you find yourself at Target, Wal-Mart or anywhere else other than home? How many times a week do you eat dinner out? How many Saturdays are spent at home? How many Saturdays are spent doing an activity as a family..a picinic, fall festivals, yard work, visiting Grandma? When you call it a day on Sundays, do you feel like you have had a day of rest? In relationship to the time spent shopping (exclude grocery shopping), eating out, going to the movies, on the computer...things that are not necessary for the running of daily life...how much time is spent just being quiet, still and in the presence of our Lord!?

These are questions that we need to ask ourselves, and that includes me! How can we be quiet and still with the Father if we are too busy with other things in our lives? And, other than the daily things we need to do to run our lives efficiently, how important are the things we do? I grew up in a very orderly, peaceful home...five kids and a mom who was very loving and embodied the Proverbs woman. Time was something that was to be managed, not wasted. Her job, as the mother was to run an efficient, smooth running ship and we always knew that God was her Admiral. She had regular briefings with the "Admiral", smart enough to know she needed Him at the helm. She was very, very organized and always kept to task. For instance, she went grocery shopping only once a month. It puts me to shame...I can't even make it two days without making a trip for something. I have a zillion examples of the things she did to make our home a peaceful oasis, and a place of peace and quiet(see definitions below)and that is what is was. Time, for all of us, was made so that we could spend time with the Lord. And, as I said, especially in my mom's life...she always had her quiet time! But, it stands in sharp contrast to the way lives are lived today. It took what some people call "sacrifice".. it wasn't a sacrifice to her, she was doing what was best for her family, the job God called her to. She laid the groundwork for me in the here, to homeschool my children. Because of her teaching, training, and by her example I was able to lay the hasty activity ridden lifestyle aside and go down a path unknown to most moms, dads, and children nowadays. I was able to provide for my family a quiet life, peaceful and if I may say so, grand and uncluttered. "Better a handful with quiet than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind." (Ecclesiates 4:6).

One day I was talking with a friend from church...a woman with a real heart for the Lord..but she made a comment that really hit home and caused me to look hard at the lifestyles our generations were being sucked into. She was upset with her second grader because the child had forgotten to remind her of a special ballet practice they had to go to that afternoon. She was explaining to me that because the child had forgotten to remind her, it had not been noted in her daytimer and her schedule was just to busy to make time to go back home to retrieve the needed ballet paraphernalia. As her child stood beside us crying, fearful of being reprimanded at the practice, she tried to explain to me and the child the importance of the daytimer and just how busy her life was. Neither the child nor I understood! We are so busy chasing after the wind that our lives end up being swallowed into it....like being sucked into the middle of a tornado. With all the swirling and deafening noise, how in the world can we be still and quiet and listen for the voice of our Lord! And there are consequences for listening and not listening to God. "But whoever listens to me may live secure, will have quiet, fearing no mischance." (Proverbs 1:33).

Have you ever looked up the definition of "quiet"? Here are a few of them..*of gentle or peaceful disposition...*not overt, private, distinguished...*undisturbed, uninterrupted; free or far from vigorous activity...*a state of being free from urgent tasks or agitation...some words from the definition...tranquil, undisturbed, calm, stillness...Look back over how you answered my unscientific survey and then think on the definiton. How does your life rate on the "quiet" scale? If you changed one or two things about your busy life right now would it bring you more quiet? Can you change just one thing in your social life to be able to say "Lord, my heart is not proud nor my eyes haughty; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quietied my soul." (Psalm 131:1-2).

A quiet life is so important that the apostle Paul urges us to pray for each other.."I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thankgiving be made for everyone-for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Saviour." (1 Timothy 2:1-2). And as always, our Father, is ready, when we heed his instructions to pour out his blessing..."The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever." (Isaiah 32:17). If this post, just simple words from a woman who wants to continue living a quiet life doesn't stir something inside of you then read this.."In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength but you would have none of it". (Isaiah 30:15). In the after, I want to continue to lead a quiet, peaceful life. I want to examine my comings and goings on a regular basis... for more of my time to be spent thinking, meditating, reading, studying and being in God's presence than anything other activity. Let's set aside our busy life, the endless effort of filling time with things of this world and make more time for quiet, peace, and stillness...time dwelling in the presence of the Almighty.