“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, attend to your own business, and work with your hands, just as we instructed you.” (1 Thessalonians 4:11 NASB2020)

The first part of this verse has been growing in my heart like a small sapling. It’s rooted in peace, and though young, it knows what it wants—to become a tall, sturdy tree. There’s no struggle in its identity, only a calm certainty that it will grow strong and firm.

Tonight, after dinner, I spent three hours doing something I’d never done before: moving and chopping firewood with my computer hands. I found a surprising satisfaction in the labor, in using my hands for something so tangible and grounded. It humbled me. Though my hands felt numb afterward, I knew it was a good strengthening for them, a new kind of work they hadn’t known before.

As I chopped wood in the dark, under the vast sky of stars, I didn’t feel alone or afraid. Instead, my heart was quiet, naturally seeking a conversation with God. I felt peace and humility in that moment. And I love it.