cul·ti·vate [kuhl-tuh-veyt]
to promote or improve the growth of by labor and attention.
I was sitting outside the other morning, drinking my coffee and reading my bible when I cam across a passage in 1 Thessalonians that I've previously read many times, but on this day, occurred to me in a fresh way.
1 Thessalonians 4:11
and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you,
I've always liked this verse. It's one of those verses that's underlined or highlighted in nearly every bible I own and written in many of my journals. I think I've had this dream, a romantic notion of a what a quiet life is and had assured myself that one day I would finally achieve said dream. When God called us to Lubbock I was sure this is where my "quiet idea" would finally come to realize itself. It felt like a small town, a certain requirement for a quiet life. I had a beautiful, big new backyard that actually had greenery, roses and cool temperatures to boot; all external factors seemed conducive to achieving a quiet life. I'll admit it: I wanted the Mayberry lifestyle. I wanted to bake pies, sit on my porch with the neighbors, and even make pickles. (That last reference was thrown in for all you bona fide Andy Griffith fans, may he rest in peace.) I was invited to an ice cream social after being here only a few weeks. When we arrived we were seated by a lake, with homemade ice cream and we sang hymns and folk songs to a banjo. "This is it!" I thought, God had finally given me a perfectly quiet life.
Then it happened. My quiet life got loud, really loud. All of a sudden our calendar was full, our house was still unpacked, I had company coming in from out of town, I tried to start teaching school again, and I began serving at church. Sshhhhh, I wanted to yell. This isn't what I planned, this isn't a quiet life. Or . . . is it?
As I read the verse from 1 Thessalonians that morning, I realized all these years it wasn't the whole verse I liked, but just the first half. I really liked the part about being quiet and minding my own business, but God's word doesn't stop there. This verse is not an invitation to be lazy, uninvolved or sedentary. In fact, it plainly goes on to instruct us to work with our hands. As I meditated on this verse and working with my hands, the idea of cultivating popped into my mind. Cultivate? Why am I thinking of cultivating as I try to plan my quiet life? I did a word search in the bible and came across Hebrews 6:7.
Hebrews 6:7
For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.
Was I cultivating a crop that was useful for those around me? That is, was I at all working at or trying to grow in Christ that I might develop and live a life full to the measure of joy, contentment and love? Or was I sitting back, dreaming of the life I wanted, reading about the life I wanted to live, and watching movies about an ideal life that I failed to do the work God had placed before me. The work that would, in fact, bring me the quiet peace I so desperately sought. Obviously the answer is the latter or I wouldn't be writing this blog.
You see I came to realize living a quiet life isn't about being not busy, having free time or having an idolized routine. When I work with my hands, when I joyfully embrace what the day brings, when I seek to build a life centered on Christ and take action to create a crop, an environment, that is a blessing to those around me, the noise in my mind stops. When I am focused on others instead of my negative self-talk, when I am serving rather than waiting to be served, when I am creating a life that brings me joy rather than coveting someone elses' joy, all the chatter and the world's temptations get quiet. Shhh. Can you hear it? It's the sound of silence; it's the sound of a quiet life.
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