| Godly Motherhood Ponderings & Encouragements |
"The Blessedness of Quiet"
by Mrs. Kristin Russell
Our home is a busy, active and noisy place. I am the blessed
mother of soon to be nine children, and so far, seven of them are
boys! Our days are filled with activity and boyhood energy and
that just naturally produces a certain amount of noise. Add to this
mix, a family addicted to Christian music and you find our home is
rarely quiet. Our family enjoys “K Love” or “The Message”
radio, to the degree that it has become the soundtrack of our lives.
Overall, I think music with a message is a good thing... our six
year old and three year old know almost every word to all the top
contemporary Christian songs. This alone will spark an occasional
theological discussion, like the day my six year old son asked me
why we would want to be broken before God.
The soundtrack continues to play as we leave our home to run
errands, attend home schooling functions or soccer practices. The
radio in our 15 passenger van is always playing and if we get tired
of our favorite radio stations, then there are a host of CDs to listen
to. Most all of the auditory stimulation is good, because we limit
what we listen to. Generally it’s Christian music, classical music,
educational, entertaining books on tape or historical stories.
It’s not as if they are never moments of quiet in our home.
I have been struck by the calm and peace in the home as children
sleep at night and those precious peaceful moments as the sun rises
and the birds greet the new day. But that is a different kind of
silence, I feel like the energy is building, almost like “recharging” a
battery. Soon my home is filled with the noise of children cooking
breakfast, beginning a new school day, and some of the sounds are
not always pleasant because most of my children are not naturally
morning people!
It is out of this daily din that I made, quite by accident, an
amazing discovery one day. It was a somewhat rare occasion,
when I had just two of my children along. We were headed to
doctor’s appointments for Levi, 8, and Jared, 6. Like a good
Mom of many, I had already multi-tasked the trip– two
appointments for the same time slot, instead of one, plus I had
planned to do my one hour glucose test “while we were over there.”
In my mind, I had also planned to use the “road time” and my
cell phone to catch up with a friend that had just had a new baby
and another friend whose baby was due any day. I might even
make a business call or two for our family business, if I had the
time and a good cell phone signal. I was like a woman on a
mission.
The first thing I noticed different on this trip was that I
forgot to bring my cell phone. “Oh well,” I thought, “we don’t have
time to run back and get it now.” It was a few more miles up the
road until I noticed that something else was different. At first I
thought it was just the absence of six of my children. Levi was
riding shotgun, using a booster seat to help him fit into the adult sized
seatbelt better and we proceeded to strike up a conversation about
something of interest he saw along the road. It was odd, but I
just couldn’t put my finger on what seemed so different on this day.
The sun was shining brightly, it’s warm rays glowing over the
beauty of God’s creation in springtime. Flowers danced along the
road as we past, and I noted the number of my neighbors who
struggle with “wildflowers” in their lawns they we do. Just that
morning I had been given a large 3 dozen bouquet of long
stemmed dandelions by one of my sons. I am always struck by the
perspective difference that dandelions highlight. To my boys, God
has blessed us with an abundant harvest of bright yellow flowers, more
than any group of boys could hope to pick for their Mama! To
me, I see those bright yellow flowers as a road sign to everyone who
passes by... “These People Need To Spray For Weeds!” it
shouts. But it was more than dandelions on my mind as we drove,
what was wrong? Something was definitely different.
It was not until about seven miles up the road that figured
out what was happening. As we entered the first little town, I
turned on the turn signals in our van to indicate my turning right.
What was that sound? It was small and soft and strangely
familiar, like an old song you haven’t heard since your childhood.
As I turned onto the next street and straightened out the wheel it
stopped. And then I knew... it was the turn signals! I can not
remember the last time I HEARD the turn signal in my
van. Certainly, I use them on an almost daily basis, but it’s small,
soft “tinsel-tinsel” is easily masked by the normal din of our family.
The children’s voices overshadow it, but more than that... the ever-
present radio. That was what was different! The radio was off!
For a moment I just drank in the thought... peace, quiet. Quiet
so still you could hear the turn signals! How refreshing! How de-
cluttering to the mind! Here we were, driving along without the aid
of music or outside talking, fully able to focus on the conversation
between the three people present in the van and more able to absorb
the beauty and grandeur of God’s gorgeous creation!
We continued the rest of the trip in this peaceful environment,
enjoying each other’s company and the relative quiet that our music-
less van provided. It was a nice change of pace, but one I would
not thought of on my own. In that simple experience, I learned
an important lesson– sometimes, it just soothes the soul to turn off
the radio and tune in to life around you.
by Mrs. Kristin Russell
Our home is a busy, active and noisy place. I am the blessed
mother of soon to be nine children, and so far, seven of them are
boys! Our days are filled with activity and boyhood energy and
that just naturally produces a certain amount of noise. Add to this
mix, a family addicted to Christian music and you find our home is
rarely quiet. Our family enjoys “K Love” or “The Message”
radio, to the degree that it has become the soundtrack of our lives.
Overall, I think music with a message is a good thing... our six
year old and three year old know almost every word to all the top
contemporary Christian songs. This alone will spark an occasional
theological discussion, like the day my six year old son asked me
why we would want to be broken before God.
The soundtrack continues to play as we leave our home to run
errands, attend home schooling functions or soccer practices. The
radio in our 15 passenger van is always playing and if we get tired
of our favorite radio stations, then there are a host of CDs to listen
to. Most all of the auditory stimulation is good, because we limit
what we listen to. Generally it’s Christian music, classical music,
educational, entertaining books on tape or historical stories.
It’s not as if they are never moments of quiet in our home.
I have been struck by the calm and peace in the home as children
sleep at night and those precious peaceful moments as the sun rises
and the birds greet the new day. But that is a different kind of
silence, I feel like the energy is building, almost like “recharging” a
battery. Soon my home is filled with the noise of children cooking
breakfast, beginning a new school day, and some of the sounds are
not always pleasant because most of my children are not naturally
morning people!
It is out of this daily din that I made, quite by accident, an
amazing discovery one day. It was a somewhat rare occasion,
when I had just two of my children along. We were headed to
doctor’s appointments for Levi, 8, and Jared, 6. Like a good
Mom of many, I had already multi-tasked the trip– two
appointments for the same time slot, instead of one, plus I had
planned to do my one hour glucose test “while we were over there.”
In my mind, I had also planned to use the “road time” and my
cell phone to catch up with a friend that had just had a new baby
and another friend whose baby was due any day. I might even
make a business call or two for our family business, if I had the
time and a good cell phone signal. I was like a woman on a
mission.
The first thing I noticed different on this trip was that I
forgot to bring my cell phone. “Oh well,” I thought, “we don’t have
time to run back and get it now.” It was a few more miles up the
road until I noticed that something else was different. At first I
thought it was just the absence of six of my children. Levi was
riding shotgun, using a booster seat to help him fit into the adult sized
seatbelt better and we proceeded to strike up a conversation about
something of interest he saw along the road. It was odd, but I
just couldn’t put my finger on what seemed so different on this day.
The sun was shining brightly, it’s warm rays glowing over the
beauty of God’s creation in springtime. Flowers danced along the
road as we past, and I noted the number of my neighbors who
struggle with “wildflowers” in their lawns they we do. Just that
morning I had been given a large 3 dozen bouquet of long
stemmed dandelions by one of my sons. I am always struck by the
perspective difference that dandelions highlight. To my boys, God
has blessed us with an abundant harvest of bright yellow flowers, more
than any group of boys could hope to pick for their Mama! To
me, I see those bright yellow flowers as a road sign to everyone who
passes by... “These People Need To Spray For Weeds!” it
shouts. But it was more than dandelions on my mind as we drove,
what was wrong? Something was definitely different.
It was not until about seven miles up the road that figured
out what was happening. As we entered the first little town, I
turned on the turn signals in our van to indicate my turning right.
What was that sound? It was small and soft and strangely
familiar, like an old song you haven’t heard since your childhood.
As I turned onto the next street and straightened out the wheel it
stopped. And then I knew... it was the turn signals! I can not
remember the last time I HEARD the turn signal in my
van. Certainly, I use them on an almost daily basis, but it’s small,
soft “tinsel-tinsel” is easily masked by the normal din of our family.
The children’s voices overshadow it, but more than that... the ever-
present radio. That was what was different! The radio was off!
For a moment I just drank in the thought... peace, quiet. Quiet
so still you could hear the turn signals! How refreshing! How de-
cluttering to the mind! Here we were, driving along without the aid
of music or outside talking, fully able to focus on the conversation
between the three people present in the van and more able to absorb
the beauty and grandeur of God’s gorgeous creation!
We continued the rest of the trip in this peaceful environment,
enjoying each other’s company and the relative quiet that our music-
less van provided. It was a nice change of pace, but one I would
not thought of on my own. In that simple experience, I learned
an important lesson– sometimes, it just soothes the soul to turn off
the radio and tune in to life around you.