The Strength of Quietness

Surveying the stress of the Ministry.

MRS. W. A. FAGAL, Minister's Wife, Faith for Today

Ever since becoming a minister's wife, and even long before, I was much interested in reading articles that would appear from time to time giving the opinions of differ­ent people on the qualifications that a mini­ster's wife should have. I must confess, however, that I always felt certain I could never measure up to even a passing percentage of the require­ments. Wives of men in other professions usu­ally find that being an expert cook, house­keeper, laundress, gardener—and adding these to the most important job of being a compan­ion to her husband and a good mother to the children—is already more than a full-time job. To these, however, the minister's wife usually adds a multitude of church duties during the day, and besides having the house neat and in order at all times, the children clean and well behaved, she must somehow look refreshed and smiling for the houseful of company that she might have for supper. This is all in the day's work for most ministers' wives, and somehow we must learn to love it and thrive upon it if we would be truly the help to our husbands that we want to be.

Although the stresses and strains of living are nothing new, yet I believe Solomon, through the Holy Spirit, must have been given a little glimpse of our day, for the counsel he gives in Proverbs 4:23 seems so appropriate:

"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." In other words, this, the wisest man who ever lived, is saying that it is most important that we study to keep our courage and our inner strength at its best "for out of it are the issues of life."

It is not always easy to "keep thy heart" in the midst of the whirlwind of duties that often settle themselves upon us. Jesus knew the need for an occasional letup from the pressures of the work in which He and the disciples were en­gaged. At one time in the midst of His work for the multitudes, He spoke quietly to His dis­ciples saying, "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while." The Bible states that there were "many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat." They tried to slip off by ship, but the people saw them, and sensing where they were going, they ran around by land and got there first. When the little ship with its load of weary workers arrived at its destination, there were the people waiting! Then "Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things."

Have you ever had a similar experience when you thought you were going to be able to slip away and "rest a while"? Even as the Saviour found it rarely possible to do this, so the times that many of us can "get away from it all" are usually very few. This makes the counsel, "Keep thy heart with all diligence," more difficult to follow.

An "Interior Castle"

Is there a magic answer to this perplexing dilemma? Not that I know of, but here are a few suggestions that have been of help to me in times past. Perhaps there should be a little more organization and a judicious choosing as to which tasks must be done today and which can be left for another day. In this way we con­serve our energy for the really important things on hand. I believe also that since we cannot escape the pressures that come with our day-to-day living, we can study ways and means for in­creasing our capacity for them and learn how to handle them by establishing an inner core of quietness from which we cannot be disturbed, no matter what burdens, frustrations, or cares assail us from without.

Where can this quiet be found today so that we can call upon it at any time when we are driven about and tried? We can and must find it within our own hearts. Basically, it must be established upon the fact that we know we are right with God, that our lives and our plans are in His keeping, and that we are in a peculiar sense guided by Him even though we may not always be able to understand His leading.

One of England's great religious leaders, Eve­lyn Underhill, expresses a similar thought in these words, "It is God's will that each of us should possess an 'Interior Castle' against which the storms of life may beat without disturbing the serene quiet within." Another writer makes this comparison: "All the water in the ocean cannot sink a ship unless the water starts getting inside." All the troubles in the world cannot sink a human being unless those troubles invade his inner life. Establishing and protecting that inner life, then, will give us the core of quiet­ness that we need, and with it, it is possible al­ways to remain tranquil despite the burdens, problems, or annoyances that our work may bring. When we have this experience, we can literally feel that inner sense of quietness and confidence that Job and Isaiah speak about: "When he [God] giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?" (Job 34:29). "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength" (Isa. 30:15). The core of quietness and confidence that we each must have to successfully weather the tasks and stresses of the day must be estab­lished anew with God each morning as we give ourselves to Him for the day, and then it must be protected and guarded throughout each day's hours. The thought that "my work for God is too important for me to yield my inner calm and quiet to such frustrations as these" will carry us over many rough spots.

One at a Time

Here are two little points that can be recalled easily and quickly, which I have found helpful in protecting that inner calm:

First. Remember, one at a time. If you have too much to do, and demands are pressing at you from all sides, make a list of what needs to be done, checking the list off as the tasks are completed. You might be greatly surprised at how quickly this takes care of many trouble­some details.

Second. Remember that everything is subject to change, and even the worst problems are transitory. If the situation you face is difficult today, it will probably be eased by tomorrow. Call upon your inner core of quietness to help you to endure—"just for today."

"Build a little fence of trust

Around today;

Fill the space with loving work

And therein stay.

Look not through the shelt'ring bars Upon tomorrow;

God will help to bear what comes

Of joy or sorrow."

Perhaps some of the readers of THE MIN­ISTRY are among the few who can claim to have a minimum of problems, disappointments, or discouragements. However, in the Lord's work all of us are all too familiar with the perplexing pressures of church campaigns, the problems of the uncooperative few (or many), the strains that come with trying to help people through their griefs or their grievances, or perhaps the uneasy feeling one has just "sitting on the lid" of a church situation that seems unsolvable at present. While we do not need to welcome prob­lems—and especially those that come as the lack of our own foresight, industry, or tact—yet we can look upon them as a call of God to a deeper understanding, a surer faith, and a greater dependence upon Him. "Tribulation worketh patience," says the apostle Paul, and in­deed it does. A liberal supply of patience comes in handy to the busy minister's wife, especially when, at the most inopportune time (which is always the way), she finds she has been chosen to be a good listener to the troubled soul who has telephoned or dropped in to unburden her­self to someone who will just give a sympathetic ear!

Problems do develop patience, and patience develops endurance. The small difficulties of to­day are likely being used by God to develop us for larger ones that will undoubtedly come to­morrow and in the weeks and months ahead. But then, as we prepare ourselves to meet trials and to weather them successfully, we develop a wonderful closeness with God that we might never have been led to seek under any other circumstances. Perhaps we are too likely to dread trials and feel that no good thing can come from them; however, in looking back upon them we can usually see most of them as bless­ings in disguise. John Wesley, that great worker for God, had so developed his sense of quietness and trust that he could say near the close of his life, "I can no more worry than I could drink or swear."

Yes, it is good counsel to "keep thy heart," for then "in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength."


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MRS. W. A. FAGAL, Minister's Wife, Faith for Today

April 1956

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