What Does "Quiet and Tranquil" Mean?

Welcome to Word for the Week, the series in which I:

share my experience of hearing God’s Word in Mass last weekend,
explore what I believe the Lord is calling me to do about that Word, and
ask how this Word might impact your life, as well.

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Another Word for the Week entry! But first, a confession: It has been even harder than I anticipated to re-acclimate to the tour life.

Momentum is such a huge part of my job as an artist. It has to do more with my intuition than with specific metrics. To gain momentum is more difficult than to keep it. But to start, stop, start again is the hardest. That is exactly what it feels like at all times recently. “We’re going! Oh, wait. Maybe we’re going.” It’s a fragile place to be. So that’s the backdrop to this reflection.

Last Sunday, I didn’t attend Mass. I felt under the weather with a head cold.

And I must have been a bit delirious whenever I read the readings. On the rare occasion that I need to stay home from Mass, I would normally read through the liturgical scriptures. I have no idea how I came to find this verse, but somehow, sometime around Sunday, I came upon this Biblical phase:

“quiet and tranquil.”

I’m smiling really big now, and also shaking my head. I do not know how to be quiet and tranquil for very long. Or at least, I don’t feel that my life reflects these traits well. But the words have long appealed to me. Even when I imagined my future, as a kid, I thought of this verse:

“First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. This is good and pleasing to God our savior” - 1 Tim: 2:1-3

I figured, even as a child, that I could never have a family and a career as a recording artist, and a “quiet and tranquil” life. But here we are. I have a (quite dynamic) family, a robust music career, and... And I think God is calling me to be quiet and tranquil.

I’m convinced it starts in the heart. And also, I think God is asking me to not get nervous when a few days or even weeks are more mellow than others. He’s asking me to let go of my idea of “momentum” — in my marriage, motherhood, career. Instead, to welcome the idea of rest.

God shows us how to rest. Which is kind of at odds with a modern praise song that says of God, “You never stop, never stop working!” I love the song. But doesn’t rest implicitly happen as we stop working?

Anyway. Somehow the Lord spoke to me through my delirium this week, at a point when I needed to take a few naps per day. And maybe He’s calling to you in the midst of you grogginess, too. Let’s ask Him to show us?

“Lord, where are you bringing the gift of tranquility to me? Help me to welcome all of your gifts, including that of quiet. Thanks for answering before we even ask. Amen.”

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