Sounds of Silence

The Sounds of Silence

Silence… quiet… solitude… things I feared and thought I hated in my younger age. Things I now crave and long for in the fast pace of my world. After watching a well-respected colleague open up a professional development session with silence and asking questions like “Where do you find silence?”, I began thinking more about the quiet and my mixed feelings about it. With strong extrovert tendencies, I draw energy from others; I feel empowered from enjoyable interactions with people. However, the draw of a silent house that I can sit in alone, having lunch in a restaurant with nothing but a great book and good food, and just sitting still without saying or hearing a word is extremely appealing. Is it really so quiet anyway? Or, am I actually, finally, getting to hear my own thoughts? Am I being granted the gift of silence to process what is happening and how I am going to handle it? Is God using the silence to talk to me so I can really hear this time?

We don’t take time to be quiet. We don’t allow ourselves the luxury of silence. I wonder if it is because we are afraid of what we will hear. I wonder if we are terrified of not being able to hear anything. I wonder what we find when we do find that silence in our lives. Taking time for ourselves while sitting still and listening to nothing can be very loud indeed. Those are the things we need to hear.