Handful of Quiet

An avid slow-pitch softball player [in my younger years], there was one basic goal: at game-end, have more runs than the opponent.  As a team, we accomplished this with tight defense, hitting the ball hard, aggressively running the bases and pursuing home plate. This didn’t always guarantee a win but it made for a good game! Much of our lives is spent “running the bases.”  At every turn to bat, the player hopes to reach 1st base then 2nd then 3rd then cross home plate to score.  And, guess what? She hopes to do the same thing the next at-bat.  Solomon observed man’s toil and skill, “This also is vanity and a striving after wind … Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.” (Ecclesiastes 4:4,7).  Endless striving after this-and-that brings only more striving after this-and-that – a plowing of water.  Contentedness – ah, now that settles in the soul and soothes the otherwise restless spirit of man; in Solomon’s words, it renders a handful of quietness: deep abiding solitude and stillness of the soul.  Paul wrote, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” (Philippians 4:11).  The learned Believer knows the secret of contentment is its source – not what but who: it is Christ Alone.  We don’t have to wait until we reach our promised eternal home for a this contentment. Oh, no – let us now joy and delight in Him, our Hope of Glory, and experience that blessed … handful of quiet!