It’s Mama……A Quiet Life
Children,
As we enter a new year of 2022, I think about individuals who have impacted me in a kind, loving, and positive way and often, it is your Uncle Jim who comes to mind. One of your Uncle Jim’s favorite passages is
“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” I Thessalonians 4:10-11
Uncle Jim is a wise man
I seek to stay close to him because he helps me stay close to God
And, when he shares this verse, I am always compelled to reflect on my own life and whether or not I am working quietly or making noise in the way I live out my days
When you get to the age of fifty-nine with less than one hundred days left until you turn sixty, it makes sense that you will start giving more mature reflection on how you are living your days and whether or not you are living them as you see fit or as God calls you to live
Because, in the short time we have on this earth, there is no greater thing to do than to live as God calls you to…not your family, husband, children, siblings, or even parents, but how God calls you to live. It is to be hoped that all of those other influencers in life will match that of God’s will, but if not, follow God
I think about ambition…a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work
This makes so much more sense to me as I get older…it does take work and desire to live a quiet life of service
There is an earnest peace that comes from working behind the scenes in life and it is your Mama’s prayer that you learn this now…early in your years so that you do not confuse public recognition for works well done with private service to God
And it applies not only to the things you accomplish with your hands, but also with your thoughts…for example, think on your Grammy who quietly reads scripture each early morning and lovingly folds her aged hands lifting you individually, by name, in prayer. I think of your Poppy who quietly works in his wood shop crafting bowls and pens and wood wonders where just he and God are present and where his work-worn hands with calluses and wrinkles wrap loving around bowls as he uses the gifts God gave him to bring joy to others.
I hope you grow in appreciating that which you do in private is often most cherished
When you learn to work quietly, you learn to lean closer to God
And, in that leaning, it is there that you find internal peace and external joy
It is in this growing and grafting onto the foundation of faith that you are best able to be independent of worldly people and dependent on a spiritual God who has planted the seeds for the gift he will call you to use while on this earth
There is nothing wrong with doing a job well and receiving praise for your works…for helping a depressed client have hope for the future, for honoring your commitment to service of our great country by protecting its citizens, or for obtaining that hard to obtain medication which will help an elderly patient. It is right that you do these things and righter still that you understand the importance of your work
But my prayer is that is the unexpected blessing from a quiet service rather than an expected accolade for what you have been called to do
Be confident in being quiet
In learning to appreciate that our work on this earth is one of quiet gifting for in that appreciation, you will find peace
And there is no greater gift you can give yourself than the peace that comes from knowing this life is not about you…but, about using those parts of you, those gifts of you, those talents of you to the benefit of others
Quietly
ILYAOYMC,
Mama
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