ONE HANDFUL IS BETTER

If we’re going to tip the scale in a better direction, it’s going to take a radical change of belief and practice. We need new thinking based on God’s Word, not on a chorus of conflicting voices in the culture around us. With God’s help, we can create a better life for ourselves. And I believe it starts with this key principle: “Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 4:6)

Think about what this means for a moment. It is better to have less of what doesn’t matter and more of what does matter. It is better to have enough so that you can enjoy what you have than to have more and never enjoy it. Peace is better than stress. Less really is more. 

-- Chris Hodges in “The Daniel Dilemma: How to Stand Firm and Love Well in a Culture of Compromise”

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DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS

“By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  (Galatians 5:22-23a NRSV)

Saint John of the Cross said that those who know God and what He is doing have three distinguishing characteristics -- tranquility, gentleness, and strength. That suggests to me an immense depth, an invulnerable steadiness, an ability to respond with kindness and care for others out of a center of quiet rest.

Frenzy, fury, hysteria, intensity, impatience, instability, pessimism, and every other kind of fuss and ferocity are marks of an immature soul. Those who know “that God works in tranquility,” as one old saint put it, are not like that. They share the calm and quiet nature of the One “who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.” (Ephesians 1:11)

-- David Roper in “A Beacon in the Darkness: Reflecting God’s Light in Today’s World”


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THREE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS

Saint John of the Cross said that those who know God and what He is doing have three distinguishing characteristics -- tranquility, gentleness, and strength. That suggests to me an immense depth, an invulnerable steadiness, an ability to respond with kindness and care for others out of a center of quiet rest.

Frenzy, fury, hysteria, intensity, impatience, instability, pessimism, and every other kind of fuss and ferocity are marks of an immature soul. Those who know that God "works in tranquility," as one old saint put it, are not like that. They share the calm and quiet nature of the One "who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will" (Ephesians 1:11).

-- David Roper in Seeing Through


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