Quiet obedience beats noisy exclamation every time. 

There are people who live their whole lives in relative obscurity. They are content remaining on the sidelines and in the shadows. Their thoughts and feelings are not on display. They simply do the right thing the right way for the right reason in the right timing day in, day out, over the full arc of their lives. 

When they are laid to rest, many realize the full meaning of the word Loss. Something goes missing that is unretrievable. Something is gone that performed much like glue. Something gone now leaves a vacancy, a vacuum, that will be filled, but with what? 

Joseph is notable for an obedient life. He did what God said and he did it immediately. He saved his family because he did what he was supposed to do. He did it in God’s perfect timing. He did it silently. And so was saved the Savior and our Savior’s mother. 

Quiet obedience can save a life, save a family, save a world. 

In a world where everyone shouts, it is the silent majority, those who live lives of quiet obedience, who make the world go ‘round. It is the quiet ones in the shadows who hold things together. It is quiet obedience that builds better lives, better homes, better communities. 

Pity a world that does not celebrate quiet obedience. 

It’s a good day to show up, shut up, and stand up to lead the way in obedience to something more important than ourselves.

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I will live a life of quiet obedience.

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Our Father, thank you for a father who lived like Joseph. Thank you for men and women who do not shout or strut but instead do the next right thing, no matter how hard, again and again. Thank you for these silent saints who join you in building a better world so that those who follow behind them have a place to stand. Amen.