FMF: Quiet

Here we are again, at the end of another week and on time for another Five Minute Friday. I couldn't get motivated to write this morning and, surprise surprise, my 5yo, little Miss A, decided she actually wanted to work hard on school today and got ALL her school work done before noon! Yay A!!! But it meant a delay in my writing, which was fine of course. And then the afternoon was spent doing the normal and mundane household things, and getting Misses A & E outside to play (unseasonably gorgeous weather permitted that) and now, it's evening, Miss R, the baby is sleeping soundly, Misses A & E are playing checkers and backgammon with Daddy and me? I have my glass of wine, my music, my computer and my quiet so I can write. My quiet. Yeah. :) And that's the word Kate has given us today! Read her post at the FMF hub! So now it's my turn with the word. I never read her post before I write. I'm always afraid it will influence what I write about and how I write. :)  But I set my time for 5 minutes and ...

Quiet

It seems quiet in here. But the words, they come from virtual voices, voices I’ve never heard before in my life but I give characters to them. Names I have voices I create. But these soundless, quiet voices, they speak volumes.  “You need to be fit”, they say! “Fit means looking like this, and doing these activities, and drinking this and eating that!” But, other than a few minor changes, I don’t eat that poorly. I actually eat pretty well! Activity? Try keeping up with 3 active littles aged 5 and under! But why does fit need to mean doing those activities with those repetitions or you will fail?!

“Be social”, they say! “Social is what everyone needs to be! It means you talk to everyone and you’re always smiling and happy and you never let anyone know you might not be having a great day … emotionally or mentally or spiritually.” (I think it must be the extreme extroverts that say that!)

“Be gracious”, they say! “Gracious means never telling someone off when they say or do something that hurts you or is just downright immoral. It might hurt their feelings, after all!” Is that really grace?! I’m not sure Scripture would agree with that!

“Be tolerant”, they say! “Tolerant means that everyone is right and they are allowed to tell you that you are wrong … but if you tell them they are wrong you’re an intolerant, fundamentalist Bible thumper.” What happened to tolerance??

And these virtual voices, the tones of which I’ve created, they are loud. They hurt, the confuse, the exhaust physically and mentally … and, yes, sometimes even spiritually.

I just want to say, maybe shout, “Be quiet!!” 

Their voices can be quieted. Just turn them off! Listen to the Word, the Word of God Himself. That voice, though quiet, speaks volumes, speaks truth, speaks real grace and mercy and forgiveness and, well, LIFE!  So, the virtual voices I will silence one by one. But the quiet Word of God, that still small voice, I will devour, inhale so it speaks volumes to me, so it fills my life, fills my ears with beauty, with righteousness, with mercy, with grace! That is the quiet that I will embrace.

Image created by me on picmonkey.com