The Quiet Life

April 4, 2023

“..And to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)

A flourishing leadership life is often a quiet life. The lifestyle of a deep quiet confidence on the inside is one of the distinguishing traits of a flourishing state versus a state of languishing.

A quiet life is more practiced and developed than it is purchased or acquired. No easy steps, no copying off someone else’s paper, no borrowing. Only the way of daily, weekly, monthly practice. The lifestyle of a quiet life. 

Four Practices of the Quiet Life

Silence & Solitude - A flourishing leader has developed the art of taking inventory of their thoughts and emotions. They’ve developed “check engine” lights through regular introspection. In doing so regularly, they are quicker to recognize where they are drifting off course from their commitments. 

Sabbath - A flourishing leader knows when to work and when to rest. They don’t remain in a constant state of being “on.” They have developed the understanding that they aren’t the center of the universe, and in order to remind themselves of this fact, they regularly take a day off from labor. 

Simplicity - A flourishing leader isn’t pretending. They are uninterested in appearing more important than they really are. They don’t prove or hide. They don’t fluff up the truth. They are who they say they are. 

Slowing - A flourishing leader is never in a hurry. Each season has the necessary ingredients for transformation. They have squelched the need to move on to the next “thing” (job, position, relationship, insert new shiny object.) A rhythm of life that is confident that they are right on schedule. 

A quiet life is an available life.

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