Better
is a dry morsel and quietness with it than a house full of feasting with
strife. (NASB)
There was a song
back in the late 1960’s, Silence is Golden. “Silence is golden, golden, but my
eyes still see.…” It was a song about someone mistreating another, and she just
didn’t see that she was being deceived. Should her friend tell her, or just
keep cool? What would you do? Keep quiet, since silence is golden? In this
case, that silence could cause strife later in her life. There is a difference
between silence and quietness. Quietness is associated with peace and
relaxation whereas silence is the absence of sound or noise, and that can be
without peace, just the noise withheld or subdued. Contrast the quiet with strife
which is a bitter, sometimes violent conflict or dissension.
Quietness is
something I continually desire. I especially find and revel in it when I escape
to the mountains in the summer. Even far away from crowds, at least once a day
an airplane flies over and disrupts our tranquility, reminding us that we are
part of a greater population. Moments later, the plane is gone and the
tranquility returns. I’ll take that any day. Serve up tranquility with a dry
crust of bread rather than a banquet feast, with noise and fighting.
How are things
around your dining room table? Noisy? Arguing? Recently the pastor at our
church gave an example of how he prevented conflict with his nearly teenage son
and elementary age daughter. He taught them what to say---how to respond. He
asked Luke to do something and then told him what the proper response was to
be. It went like this, “Luke, I want you to take out the trash (or whatever
chore needed to be done) and your response will be, ‘Yes, Dad, I’d be happy to
do that.’” So Luke responded with, “Yes, Dad, I’d be happy to do that” and he
took out the trash. No conflict. It may not have been something that Luke
particularly wanted to do, but there was no arguing or whining. Merely a
suggested response and action. Sometimes even adults need to be taught what to
say, how to respond. Ah. Quiet. No Strife.
As I recently
posted, food doesn’t digest properly if you are upset when you eat. Strife will
definitely make anyone upset. I know that if I’m really upset with someone,
which doesn’t happen very often, I don’t even want to eat. I long for
quiet---and would settle for dry toast and tea rather than a big steak with a
baked potato and all the fixings. How about you? Do you long for peace and
quiet? Sometimes that is something we have to ask for---to show others how much
we value it with them. Teach those around you that peace without whining can be
of value to everyone; that quiet is better than strife.
Lord,
instill in us not only the desire for peace and quiet without strife, but also
the ability to teach others the value of quietness.
©
2012 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
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