Quietness Is Precious

Quietness is precious. Once in a blue moon I find myself at home completely alone. My husband has taken my kids to the capital. I soak up those rare moments and thoroughly enjoy them. I rarely listen to music because when I do have a few moments of peace, I don’t want to mess it up with noise. With five children there is almost constant noise, loud or soft. We had to sit them down several months ago and tell them to be quiet in the mornings until Mom and Dad come out of the room because we are trying to have our time with God. I cannot pray with noise, even if I literally go into my closet. It has worked much better since we had that talk with the children, although we still have to remind the four-year-old boy. He forgets that other people can meet his needs as well. Having a talk with them and explaining the situation worked much better than getting frustrated and telling them to be quiet every day.

Everyone, especially moms, need that quiet time with God to renew our strength and remind ourselves to praise and thank God instead of falling prey to the frustrations that are hurled at us left and right every day.

Psalm 92:1, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High.”

Living with children can be frustrating if we focus on it. It can get depressing because there is no end to the madness. There is no end to the mountain of responsibility we carry. When I became a mother and no longer had a full-time job I saw how mothering is so much harder than an 8-4 job. It’s sometimes all night, too. It is twenty-four hours a day, especially when a baby is present or there is sickness in the house.

Find a way to carve out this time for yourself. Maybe it’s during nap time. When my first two were very small they both took a morning nap and an afternoon nap. Neither were sleeping through the night. They are fifteen months apart. So during their morning nap I sat at my dining room table and read my Bible and had my quiet time with the Lord. I napped during their afternoon nap. I was really struggling then. I was having hormonal problems from lack of sleep. I needed that time with God like never before.

Then we started traveling on deputation to go to the mission field. Do you know how hard it often is to be by yourself alone at all while traveling? We have camped in a tent as a family the last two years. It is also hard in that circumstance to find a place to be alone. I am very distracted outside. But even if I’m inside the tent and the children are outside, I still hear them and it’s distracting. Quiet is so hard to find sometimes.

The Bible says to “Be still and know that I am God.” Some people like me feel like they have to constantly be doing something. It’s hard to be still for any amount of time. I think some of that is that I am so busy and there is so much to do and the house is never done. We still need times when we can be still and put the busyness aside. We think about what we want to think about. We meditate all the time. We often meditate on things that we like. God should be our meditation all the day.

Psalm 90:1, “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.”

Psalm 90:1, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

Little Johnny may being annoying. Maybe Susie is constantly lazy. Maybe Henry wants to be mean to his siblings. But we can keep our joy and kind words and good attitude if God is our meditation and we are turning our thoughts to praising and thanking Him despite our circumstances. It is much easier to do this if we start our day with a quiet time, being still before Him, basking in the beauty of His holiness.