Giving thanks this week for:
~posts by iron-sharpening women. Aimee's post on submission really hit home. Kim's words on gurus are wise, indeed.
~my girl's return for a few days. She's been gone quite a bit this summer and it's been rather strange.
~God's reproof and correction through Scripture. Handling a situation the way He wants, rather than how I want, brings such peace. Why is my heart so stubborn and resistant?
~garden bounty
~time spent with my 90-year old grandmother.
~a change in the way we live
~my man standing strong beside me as I look on Mama's name etched in stone for the first time
~air conditioning in these dog days of summer
~the Word become flesh
July 19, 2012
July 18, 2012
Living Quietly: Reducing the Noise
...aspire to live quietly, and
to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed
you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on
no one.
~1 Thess. 4:11-12
I've been pondering the quiet life and its ever-decreasing value in society. Noise has drowned out our craving for quiet.
Email.
Blogs.
Facebook.
Twitter.
Smart phones.
24-hour news networks.
Hundreds of television channels.
We have unlimited access to information, unfettered interaction with people near and far. But at what price? We've become desensitized to the constant droning around us. We are uncomfortable with face-to-face contact. We have exchanged flesh and blood for pixels and gigabytes.
Noise reigns in our lives.
Merriam-Webster defines noise
any sound that is undesired or interferes with one's hearing of something; irrelevant or meaningless data or output occurring along with desired information.Keeping this in mind, these are the questions I want to ask myself - thinking on long and hard - as I seek the quiet life:
Is this interfering with my hearing God? I must guard my time in His Word before spending time in the words of others, no matter the source.
Is this interfering with my hearing my family? I must also guard my time with my family. I cannot forsake my responsibilities to love and minister to them.
Is this relevant in God's Kingdom? I must gauge the importance of the information I'm consuming in light of eternity.
Is this encouraging and helpful in my walk with the Lord? I must accurately assess its influence upon my willingness to live for God's agenda rather than my own.
Some of the answers may surprise me. Watching Ina Garten may inspire me to try a new dinner that knocks my man's socks off. Reading so many Christian blogs may be pulling me away from spending time in God's Word or from meeting my family's needs. I don't know what it will look like, but I truly believe that asking myself these questions before I read, listen, or watch will have a tremendous impact on the noise level in my life.
July 16, 2012
A Quiet Life
...aspire to live quietly, and
to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed
you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on
no one.
~1 Thess. 4:11-12
Quiet. One of my favorite words. One of my favorite things.
...low tones of
classical music wafting on the air as I'm curled up with a good book.
...hushed jazzy voices crooning while I clean our home or prepare a meal.
...absolute stillness of a dark morning lit only by a small lamp and the
Word of God.
...crickets chirping outside my window as I fall asleep.
I enjoy a good football game, laughter, and being with friends. Yet it is in the quiet moments of my life that I feel most alive.
My soul craves quiet.
Perhaps it's a reaction to years of going, doing, and spending. Maybe it's a result of endlessly trying to meet others' expectations. I believe it's wisdom gained.
I've spent much of the last few days thinking about what it means to live quietly. I'll be sharing my thoughts here over the coming days and weeks. In the meantime, what does living quietly mean to you?
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