Sometimes a quiet life speaks loudest. It’s not only the singer on stage lit up under an array of lights who speaks God’s truth. It’s also the small-town preacher who’s never known what it’s like to have his words heard by a crowd. It’s not only the missionary feeding orphans in a foreign country who shows God’s love. It’s also the wife who serves as caretaker to her aging husband day after weary day.
Each one has a different calling: some to the spotlight of fame, some to the shadows of obscurity. Yet all of us are called to speak truth and show love wherever we are.
searching for beautiful
Every beautiful thing has been spoken into being by love. It is made through Christ, for Christ, and is held together by Christ. Sometimes it is given. It is the rainbow in the sky, too large and lovely to miss. But sometimes beauty is hidden; sometimes it is quiet. It waits to be discovered and unveiled. Sometimes it asks us to help create it. Perhaps to build it with wood and a table saw.
— Christie Purifoy
There’s a certain kind of beauty found in ordinary days. Threaded throughout the miniscule minutes that make up our lives is a steady sense of purpose that all of us seek but not all of us find. We know it’s there, thrumming just under the surface, but we can’t always feel the pulse. This slumbering purpose is awakened by the touch of faith.
Faith enables us to believe that as long as there is life lived under God’s watchful care, there is hope and peace and joy and beauty to be found. Even when we feel unheard and unseen, there is One who hears our heart and knows our name. He will search for us and find us even in the wilderness (Genesis 16:7–8, 13). He will not forget or forsake us (Isaiah 49:15, Psalm 94:14).
serving where you are
… The difference we make is rooted in the quality of our lives and in our ability to grant wisdom and blessing rather than in any particular role or responsibility we might have—whether it is that of a pioneer missionary or a business executive.
— Gordon T. Smith
Maybe God will call you to be a missionary in a faraway land, or maybe He will plant you in home soil and call you to serve right where you are. We crave excitement, but God desires faithfulness. And faithfulness is found and formed in small things, like how we respond to everyday irritations and daily duties.
You don’t need to lead a glamorous life to bring God glory. You have only to prove trustworthy in handling the tasks He has given you, whether they be great or small, and serving the ones He has called you to walk beside, whether they be many or few.
satisfied with true success
May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.
— Psalm 90:17 (NIV)
Serving a few well or many poorly—which is true success? God’s kingdom is found in the small as well as the large. In fact, it usually starts small—like a seed, a pearl, or a bit of yeast (Matthew 13:31–33, 45–46). But eventually it becomes bigger than we could ever imagine.
Perhaps the lot in life that you have been called to steward seems small and insignificant, and you wonder if it’s worth the effort. It can be tempting to feel as though what you’re doing doesn’t really matter, especially when you’re still planting seeds and not seeing results. But let me remind you that in Christ, your work matters. Jesus knows what it’s like to lead a quiet life. As you follow Him faithfully, He will speak through you and make your life a message of truth and love.
A quiet life is a whispered call for others to hear the voice of truth.
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