{Wildflowers picked for a tea table, set out for a Grandmother visit}
11And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business,
and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
12That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without,
and that ye may have lack of nothing.
1 Thessalonians 4:11
Sweat trickled down my neck as I placed the heavy basket, loaded with vegetables, on the outdoor kitchen table.
Off in the distance, I could hear the pleasant sound of the wind chimes, tinkling in the pine trees that line the vegetable garden. Six lovely girls were sitting beside me, chatting away, helping me – our harvest: the first of our green and yellow beans, just picked from our garden. The two boys were happily playing in the sandbox, littered with child-sized dump trucks and tractors.
While cutting off the ends of our fabulous beans, the above verse had set me pondering..
We live in a noisy, restless world – do you hear it? Does it make you frustrated at times? It seems to be one that constantly finds people competing for attention, higher position and status and success in their businesses.
To live quietly is not common … we have friends that are Mennonites and I would say, from what we have observed, while they enjoy life and love and serve those around them, they live quietly. I respect that. It is challenging to live quietly when the usual hustle and bustle is brought out in every day regular living. It is not normal to be going, going, going places, filling instagram with amazing photos or filling Facebook’s feed with incredible status updates.
How does one stay quiet in this restless world?
I’ve never been a quiet person – but I have found that our lifestyle has forced me into living quietly. By matter of practicality, I am unable to join in many events or attend gatherings …. one cannot leave children – much less animals and gardens – for long period of times. My husband works long hours and is not able to attend social events like most men.
Although we make room for having families over, when he is home, we want to have family time. The children usually are with me when I go out – I pray that our family can be a witness, by just being everyday {quiet} Christians. We attend church together, we volunteer together (limited – but we find small ways to help), we garden together, we work with our hands together and we are slowly seeing the benefit of living quietly …
… and minding our own business, so to speak.
[Lyla, looking over her 200 sunflower patch, which is coming along nicely, considering we are leaving it up to Nature to nurture it …]
Staying off social media is a definite way of retaining peace, as well. Closing my facebook account many years ago left a large space of quiet in my life and I just love it.
There is quiet strength and gentle rest in taking care of your own business, in daily taking up the tasks that need accomplishing, in cleaning a sink full of dirty dishes from a family meal or preparing a homemade pie for your Sunday dinner – it leaves little time for too much worry or un-gratefulness. One does not see what others are doing in the shiny, flashy world when your head is bent down pulling up pesky weeds or cutting up fresh vegetables for your kitchen table.
There is a lesser temptation to fell ‘left out’ or behind the times.
It is now August – hot and dry in Ontario. Our garden is coming into harvest time now and things are getting busier in the summer kitchen. Beans, corn, pickles, peaches, tomatoes , squash, potatoes, onions … many fruit and vegetables are ripening quickly in our heat and we are rolling up sleeves, getting ready for the canning-marathon that takes place from August to September. Herb needs harvesting and garlic needs curing. Stay tuned – I’m sure I’ll be posting recipes or, in the very least, photos of our progress.
[the herb garden]
This is one way we have found to live quietly and mind our own business. When running a home and raising children, there’s plenty of good old-fashioned hard-work business to tend – even if you do not have a garden. Simply taking care of your own family and minding your lovely home should be enough to keep you busy and out of trouble — out of the world’s way. If you are not busy, perhaps you are not doing enough around your home. There really should never be a reason to be bored at home, I believe!
{gathering seeds from their wildflower patch}
The girls are seeing the fruit of their careful spring labour – one daughter has a section in the garden of just annual flowers. While some are flowering now, we are anticipating full blossoms any day! It is lovely! I love to look out and see them collecting seeds, studying petals and looking up the flower names in their great flower book. One of our favorite activities is seeing what perennial goes on sale at the local greenhouse, to which we can add to our flower gardens. My daughter loves it when someone comes over and asks for a garden tour.
They are diligently working with their hands and learning new skills … it is wonderful to witness. Every day, we also work together to clean the house, prepare foods, fold laundry and work on household chores. It creates order and peace in our life, in our family home. We have 10 people living here in our home – it can be chaotic at bedtimes or naptimes :), but our goal is to make this home a peaceful home, a productive home and a quiet home — a home that is different from the world because Jesus is in the center.
Maybe our life is not as quiet as others, but we have stepped back, so to speak, from much and focused on working with our hands, living honestly, minding our own business while working for the Lord.
In a crazy, non-stop, chaotic world … home is a restful spot to find one’s self.
“The key to evangelism was the integrity Christians manifest to a sinful, confused, and agitated world. When believers display diligent work attitudes and habits and live in a loving and tranquil manner
that respects others’ privacy and does not intrude or gossip,
it constitutes a powerful testimony to unbelievers and makes the gospel credible.”
-John MacArthur
by Gigi
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