“And to seek earnestly to be quiet and mind your own affairs, and work with your own hands, even as we charged you.” I Thessalonians 4:11My brother, Jim, has many favorite Bible verses, but I think he has included this in more of my Birthday cards and other missives than any other verse. He generally adds to this that when we take care of our own business “work”, we have less time to worry about what others are doing and less opportunity to be critical of others….less time to judge. And, less time to feel the sting of other’s judgment.
The next verse, 12, takes this thought a little further…
Then people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.
He and I have discussed that so many times people worry so much what others think that they forget to care about what God thinks. We agreed that some of our poorest decisions were made because we were making them based on what “man” would think of us. And, worse still, worry about what man would think and that is the same man who didn’t even have all the facts.
God had all the facts.
God has all the facts.
God knows our heart.
God hears our prayers.
I find so much comfort in that. Because, the more you are keeping your own affairs in order, the more you are humbled about what you cannot do and do not know. The harder I strive to keep my family in order, the more I recognize what a task that is.
And, oddly enough, the more I strive to keep my family in order, the more I recognize the need to lean on God and on His understanding and direction. I cannot do this life alone. I know not what to do. I am in new-garden territory.
Ian and I were discussing yesterday that raising our children and living out our life is like planting our garden…
We have worked hard in our garden. Ian tilled virgin soil, meaning he took a large, grassy spot and decided that he would till up the hard, grassy soil and make it vegetable garden worthy. This was no small feat. We outlined the garden plot and he set tiller to ground. Four, five times he tilled the grass. It was full of rocks, stones and even some concrete which had to be 17 years old as that is how old our home is. Hard it was to pull out the grassy clods and work the tillers blades through the dirt.
So hard in fact, our rotor tiller had a “heart attack” and had to be put into the shop. Ian wore out it’s engine breaking up ground and had to rent a tiller to finish the job.
True Gut. Our tiller sits as I write in the shop for tiller heart repair.
If only there was such a place for the heart of us.
But, there is.
And, it is not in a church building made with brick and mortar. It’s not in a hospital filled with amazing doctors.
It is in the sanctuary of God’s love. Where all gardens begin and where He walks with us among the rows and rows of our life’s challenges noting the rocky places and the well-tilled places and the extravagantly blooming places.
God is so wise. He encourages us in things because he sees the whole picture of our life. He knows the busier we are setting about to do His work, the more we have to focus on the task at hand and lean on Him and the less we focus on the task of others and lean on ourselves.
I also find it interesting that he says to be quiet. As a person who likes to talk and write, what does that mean? Do we be silent? Do we never say anything? Do we remove all venues of conversation from our lives? Remove cell phones, internet and gasp…Facebook?
I have and still do give this much thought and prayer. I do not have an answer as I write this today.
But, what I have learned is this….if I first give over my garden-life plowings and struggles to God first, there I will find peace. If I share with him the worries and stresses of my heart, he will carry them for me. If I hold sacred the foundation for my decision making between myself and our Lord, then I will find respite and calmness. If I am quiet…if I am working in my own private garden…if I am keeping my hands busy as instructed, then I will be able to focus on the tilling of my own life and will not seek to judge the rows of others’ lives.
And, perhaps most tender to my heart of all of this passage are His words, “then people who are not Christians will respect the way you life.”
This is powerful.
I have at times, so failed in this. I think we all do.
So, as I plant my earthly garden with Ian, which comes about with great commitment and sweat and tears. As we till together the soil, breaking up the clods of sin in our lives and the clods of dirt in our garden, I strive to remember that God calls us to work quietly.
And, to work with our hands.
And, to not depend on others or the thoughts of others or the ways of others.
But, to lay down rows and rows and rows of the garden of our lives before Him.
And to wait.
And to watch.
And to be amazed at the Garden He will grow in us.
And, in others.
Blessings,
Lesa
