I received a compliment this week. It wasn’t necessarily meant as one. It was just an observation, but it complimented me. A fellow said to me “I sense a calmness in you.”

Indeed. I feel more calm today than perhaps ever in my 48 years.

In Ecclesiastes this morning I read about “The quiet words of the wise…” (v 9:17) and that “calmness can lay great errors to rest.” (v 10:4)

There’s a thought: How many raging fires exist in your life because there was a little spark caused by friction—-and there is friction everywhere, everyday—and in frustration and anger you threw gasoline on the spark? I’d hate to think about how many heart-acres I have scorched because I didn’t exhibit calmness. I’m reminded that Proverbs 15:1 says “A gentle answer turns away wrath.”

Where does calm come from? Is it just an age thing? Only to the extent that time allows you to dig your well deeper.

I think calmness comes from depth. Shallow water has turbulent ripples but deep water is calm. Calmness comes from depth. Where does depth come from?

Depth—deep—-dig, Ah Ha! You gotta dig to get to depth. Dig what? I think your own heart.

My pastor friend, Hosea Bilyeu, has repeatedly encouraged me to listen slowly, think deeply, pray fervently, and obey faithfully. Pause to consider the first two thoughts. Listen slowly implies carefully considering what you hear. Don’t be rushing to formulate your answer. Think deeply. Shallow thinking produces shallow answers that hit us like cotton candy. They may sound good, but they quickly melt to nothing. Deep thinking sometimes—not always—produces profound thoughts and solutions that change the course of our life.

You can’t dig to depth, or think deeply in the midst of noise, and it’s a noisy world. Phones ring. Kids scurry through. Spouses need things. Text messages ding. The computer shouts “You’ve got mail!” All the while the TV or radio blares in the background and we have the temerity to say “I’m thinking.” Not so much.

Learning and growing can’t take place in a life that is noisy. It requires ingestion of ideas through great books, podcasts, conversations & travel. Then it requires digestion of what you’ve ingested. Some of it will help you learn and grow while some just produces waste. You separate the good from the bad as you dig deep into the ideas, and into your heart, and evaluate what you find in comparison to what you know is truth. Thus, you grow. And, somewhere on the other side of that growth, comes calm.

It’s a chaotic world out there. Politically. Economically. Socially. Your internal world is chaotic, too. Relationships. Finances. Fears. All of these things produce friction that is sometimes too much to bear, and when we can’t stand it anymore we spew gasoline on the sparks all the while wondering why we are having to continually fight fires.

You, your family, the people you work with, even the world needs your calm.

Get a shovel, and start digging.