I spent much of this past weekend trying to manage a cyclone of noise racing through my restive mind. It felt like my head was hosting a birthday party for 5-year-old boys jumping off the wall of an inflated “Bounce House.”
It did not take long for me to bring into my viewfinder how a noisy mind quickly breeds fear and worry like mosquitoes replicating exponentially at dusk on an eerily-still pond.
It was God tipping me off to the trouble brewing and imploring me to “be quiet.”
“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.” 1 Thessalonians 4:11
By Sunday I had fought off the noise and moved forward stronger and resolute to live a quiet and balanced life.
After all, God’s truth and promises hadn’t changed just because it got a little noisy. The issue is not IF the noise will chase us—it will—but whether or not we have the discipline to stay on God’s road.
Of course it is a daunting challenge to live a quiet and balanced life in a world of chaos. I know that was the case for me this past weekend.
I know from years of experience that being busy sounds great until you realize what comes with it. People aspire to be frenetically occupied until they wake up shaking and sweating in the night worrying about keeping their deck of cards from tumbling into a heap.
Peace and quiet. Sounds pretty good, eh?
We have made ourselves so busy that we miss the quiet patter of life. We miss the sun rising in the morning and its descent into darkness at night. We miss God’s rosy pinks and soft whites of dawn as we scurry to our next appointment. We miss God’s peace.
I ask God to slow me down each day as the parade of challenges winds around the corner and starts marching straight toward me.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Can you live at least part of today QUIET? Give it a try.
“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.” 1 Thessalonians 4:11
