From Strife to Quietness

The other day I read, 

"Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it, 
than a house full of feasting with strife."

The contrast of quietness and strife struck me.  It's verse 1 in Proverbs 17 and I got no further, as I furiously scribbled down what the Word has to say about quietness.

You don't need to have a lot, to have a lot.

If you have quietness, you have a lot.

Quietness is valuable.  It's the outflow from the peace in my heart to those around me.  It's the Lord's quiet work of the Spirit in my heart, overflowing into real fruit in my family dealings.

Quietness is a blessing.  

A real, in-the-trenches, speaking kind words 

even when I'm frustrated and gritting-my-teeth kind of blessing.  

A gracious words are sweet to the soul kind of blessing.  

Quietness is the opposite of strife.  

It's the choosing to prefer you over me, instead of demanding my own way.

It's choosing to serve when I just don't feel like it.

And so, I ask myself, "In all my dealings with my family, am I feeding strife?  

Am I exacerbating strife?"

A quiet spirit is an imperishable quality, a quality that has eternal value.  

Quietness is something we don't naturally tend to value here in this life.

Quietness is precious to God.  It is disdained in our culture, even mocked today.

The work of righteousness is peace; the effect of righteousness is quietness...

This is the effect I will continue to see in my own life:

quietness.  

Quietness is what He's working in me.

Dominique

Proverbs 17:1

1 Peter 3:4

Isaiah 32:17

Pics from the vacation in the Wild Area around our cabin.