Five Minute Friday: Quiet

Jumping in again for Lisa-Jo’s Five Minute Friday. Today’s word? Quiet.

We’re taught that a woman’s adornment should be a “gentle and quiet spirit.”

I’ve never had trouble being quiet. Silence is easier than speech. But to be silent, I find, does not mean one’s spirit is quiet. Often, my quiet lies atop a soul which will not shut up. When I should be in receive mode, listening for the Spirit’s guidance, I instead talk and talk and talk, internally, presenting myself reasons and rationalizations: all the things that make it absurd for me to listen, much less obey; all my explanations of why that is okay.

The Psalmist says he composed his soul like a weaned child, not occupying himself with things too high for him. Mostly, I keep my soul busy with the things too high, in endless, one-sided arguments.

The quiet spirit? It comes from resting upon the Father, from listening to His voice, from acknowledging that the too-high things are too high, and therefore leaving them to the Father whose height can handle these and all other things.

Lord, teach me to be quiet, inside as well as out.