“But Patience / to prevent that murmur…”

Proverbs 16:32…“Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.”

 “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
   I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
   Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
   Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
   And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:
   They also serve who only stand and wait.”
                                                    John Milton, Sonnet 19

 

I hate when it’s quiet. In college and in my early days of graduate school I would fall asleep with the TV on a sleep timer. During the day, I would keep the quiet at bay with a variety of audiobooks, podcasts, music, and noise machines—anything to keep the static of the inside of my ahead from getting too loud, you know, the cliched deafening effect of silence.

My proclivity for noise is a product of my desire for effectiveness run amok. Or maybe that’s the lie I tell myself to excuse the really difficult truth at the heart of my unrest: my unwillingness to rest in God. Continue reading ““But Patience / to prevent that murmur…””