Wednesday, August 17, 2011

But What About Quiet?

I’ll be gone tomorrow, and I’m expecting overnight company on Friday, so I probably won’t be around much in the next two or three days. But when I come back, there’s another thing I want to talk about briefly. After posting below about being a kinesthetic person who really needs to move (because God made me this way), there’s something else I feel compelled to say in order to give a more complete picture of what I think matters. I’m not altering or retracting anything I said, but I also don’t want to leave anything out.

There’s another part of me besides the active one: I’ve chosen to live a quiet, slow-paced life. Unless I have company, I let silence reign in my house. I live with roomy margins. I saunter. I’m contemplative. Having quietness and stillness in my days is more important to me than walking and hiking and climbing (ideally, I can do both).

Blaise Pascal said that the whole problem with man is that he can’t sit quietly in his own room. And I think there’s something to that. Also, from Psalms, “Be still and know that I am God.”

I don’t have time to write more now, but I couldn’t shake a vague feeling of imbalance throughout the day regarding my earlier post, so I wanted to at least point to another part of the picture. (Though I think most, or all, of you realize I wasn’t trying to paint the whole picture of the Christian life in that one post.)

I’ll have a little bit more to say later about this (it won’t be a long post like that last one). And then there's some food stuff I promised one or two people I would post. And some thoughts about homeschooling in high school. And maybe I'll post pictures of something I ran across while going through boxes that had me cracking up for half of this afternoon. Oh, and my grandchildren will be here for two days this weekend, and I'm sure I'll have something to say about that, too!

Have a Happy Thursday!

5 comments:

  1. I am looking forward to your thoughts on living with a lot of quietness.

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  2. I am a person who needs plenty of quiet and solitude. Silence is awesome. It's a bit difficult to attain sometimes since I watch my granddaughters during the week. When they leave for the day....ahhhhhh. Will be interested in your words about it. By the way....I LOVE your long posts.

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  3. I am looking forward to reading your thoughts on the matter. I have always loved and needed solitude, and still struggle with trying to balance that need with having six home schooled children who want and need for me to be present for them. Enjoy your company!

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  4. Susan, I remember the first time I heard that Blaise Pascal quote about the whole problem with man is his inability to sit quietly in his room for an hour or two. It came out of the mouth of my beloved mentor Elisabeth Elliot on her radio program. I remember sitting and pondering what on earth he meant by that. I also love solitude, and remembered talking about it with a high school friend who couldn't stand silence,always having to have the radio or cassette or eight-track (yes, it was that long ago!) playing, or some other activity going on. And I thought about the verse, "Be still and know that I am GOD." And I think I understood what Blaise Pascall meant. How can we hear GOD speak to us if we are never silent, never STILL? And if we drown out His voice to us, how can the world ever be right? I was so amazed at the profundity of his observation. Still am.

    And I have to tell you, I love it when I'm reading your blog and I see the Elisabeth Elliot influences coming out in your life! She was/is quite a woman. Godly wise and so sensible. And able to speak and write with such clarity. I am so thankful for her influence on my life and so many others...for Christ and His kingdom!

    Have a great week-end!

    Judi

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  5. Thanks you all. I get to that post soon. After company is gone and I have quiet mornings again (or evenings). :-) Cathleen, I'm glad you like the long posts because I write way too many of them! :-) I don't know if I can stop, either.

    Judi, thank you for that wonderful comment (as usual). I love your thoughts. ". . .if we drown out His voice to us, how can the world ever be right?" Nicely put. I like that. I'm thankful for EE, too!

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