A Circle of Quiet

The title I chose for this post is the same title for Madelein L’Engle’s book written in 1972 that I recently purchased for a friend in Powell’s Bookstore in Portland. I love that title, don’t you? It sounds so peaceful, so serene, so needed. Don’t we all need a circle of quiet every once in a while. For those of you with small children, you need it on a daily basis, and sometimes hourly. For Madelein L’Engle she found hers at a small brook where no one else could be found. The walk that she took to that brook was a walk that moved her from the chaos around her to the peace that would engulf her during her time away.

I meet with several LDS friends once a month and we have some great discussions. During this last get together we discussed the idea of taking a “Sabbath” rest. For the Old Testament Jews, this ended up being pretty legalistic with several dos and don’ts. For the LDS taking a break from the norm on Sundays is strongly emphasized. It actually has been pretty nice for our family to live in this culture. I don’t often notice it until I go out of state and realize that in other places people actually have kids games on Sundays. One of the things we talked about was living our lives with an attitude of rest all the time, rather than just one day a week. For me there is a rest that comes in feeling completely sure of my salvation in Christ. I believe that is what Paul spoke about in Hebrews 4.

My circle of quiet comes once a week on Fridays when I carve out time to be with Jesus for a good portion of the day. During the winter that takes place mostly in our prayer room and during the warmer months I’m typically walking among the beauty of God’s creation at the gardens near our home. I’ve done this for 14 years and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. My time on Fridays has at times been life changing and at other times it is simply a sweet communion with Jesus. Taking time to get away from the hustle and bustle of life is always beneficial for me, and I believe it blesses my family as well.