My Quiet Ambition

Becky Crenshaw
Jun 29, 2010
2 min read

My life is many things. Quiet is not one of them.

I say with confidence that, to some degree, you can relate.

1 Thessalonians 4:11 reads… Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands.

Upon reading this, I admit, I am a bit discouraged. Really Lord, how am I to lead a quiet life? Remember those three boys you gave me?

Let’s investigate.

I got the biggest kick out of this…

Quiet (hēsychazō) means – to rest, not running hither and thither, but to stay home and mind your own business.

Hither and thither are not words in my everyday dialect, but oh so telling of my life. I am constantly running hither and thither and always feeling a bit whithered by it all. And I do it to myself. I am one to go and go and go and go. But how much more would I experience quiet if I would make it my ambition to rest, stay home a bit more and back away from so much hithering and thithering?

A couple of weeks back, we took to a trip to West Tennessee to visit grandparents. I have been there countless times over the course of my marriage, but this last visit I couldn’t get over the simplicity of Brent’s grandmother’s land and her life.

Mema wrote the book on the quiet life. She has one fuzzy TV channel (that she rarely watches), reads everyday, hems a lot of pants, teaches Sunday school, makes jars of jelly, cooks every meal, sends cards in the mail, loves walking around her yard, works in her garden, prays often and leads a very content, pleasant and peaceful life.

So much to be desired.

So I am asking myself…how can I strive for a more quiet, restful life? What does that look like for my family?

How do we balance family, relationships, jobs, school, ministry, finances and home but yet not wear ourselves out running hither and thither? Let’s start by enjoying a cup of joe, and a little quiet reflection…..