One Quiet Life

When words are many, transgression is not lacking,   but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. (Proverbs 10:19) ... let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak... (James 1:19) Before my quest for a quiet life , I spent a great deal of time worrying about blogging, particularly what and how often I would write. I followed the social media pundits who claimed that if I wanted to have a successful blog, I needed to post frequently, leave comments on a huge number of blogs, and always respond to comments on my own.  The dream of having a must-read blog and a book deal has vanished. These days I grapple with writing one post per week; it's a battle I lose more often than not. And I'm okay with that. There will always be a part of me that longs to write, to see the words of my soul in print. Yet it seems to me that posting when I have nothing of import to write is at cross purposes with living a quiet life. I need to guard my tongue and my keyboard against self-indulge...

...if you - you married women - embrace the truth that your womanhood, true womanhood is uniquely and indispensably created by God to display the glory of His Son in the way you relate to your husband, you will have a calling of infinite significance.  - John Piper ( source ) As I hoped it would, reading intentionally gives me a fresh perspective; in January I read with eyes bent toward my role in our home and helping my husband . Once I began looking, I couldn't stop seeing .  My Living Intentionally notebook can't confine the lessons, they're pouring out into my thoughts and - oh, how I pray! - my actions. One lesson that has struck me with force came through reading A Severe Mercy . It's an exquisitely written account of the love and marriage of the author, Sheldon Vanauken, and his wife, Davy, and her untimely death. In the pages of their story, the Holy Spirit pricked my heart. " A year before her death, Davy offered-up her life for me, for the fulf...

Lately I've been considering the way our culture has made us think that our value comes from our popularity - having trendy blogs, mega churches, or big ministries. Often, it can feel like high school on steroids; the competition to be popular distracts us from contentment within the boundary lines God has placed around us. I have suffered that mind-set far too long. By the grace of God,  I'm slowly learning to appreciate the concept of small, but valuable. I started this blog 10 months ago, a few weeks after my family started attending our current church. I had already come to a point in my life where I wanted a quiet, simple, small life. I didn't realize that the Lord would emphasize that by directing us to a quiet, simple and small church , but He did. And He has used it to teach me plenty. About my blog... I will never have more than a handful of readers. I don't follow the latest social media trends and I certainly haven't spent any time crafting a br...