When I Go Quiet
We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls. Mother Teresa
Every couple of weeks I find myself growing silent. Not by choice… I guess by necessity.
I can sense my need for silence in the absence of something to say. You can measure it in my lack of tweets and forced or non-existent blog posts. I feel it in my impatience with people and lack of desire to chit-chat.
Perhaps it is exhaustion.
Perhaps it is just the rhythm and pattern of my life.
Perhaps it is God calling me to silence.
But all I know is it’s becoming predictable and I’m recognizing how much I need it. I’m learning not to fight it, but to embrace it.
There have been times I’ve felt guilty for longing for silence. I’ve felt compelled to stay among the noise. I’ve felt responsible to stay engaged.
But if what Mother Teresa says is true – that God cannot be found in the noise and restlessness, and that we need silence to be able to touch souls – I’m ready to embrace the silence.
How about you? Do you have trouble going quiet?
Um, yes. Lots of trouble with this one.
Sometimes I also have a problem speaking what is laying on my heart.
The noise protects me from having to do either.
very much so. i'm a born extrovert, and flapping my jaws – along with listening to the noise of others', or simply the world around me – is hard to get away from.
I was gifted a day of silence yesterday… so grateful for those moments when I stop and dwell in God presence, recognizing His creation, and His love. I am normally running 100 miles a minute refueling myself on adrenaline and accomplishment. I love moments where it feels as if God's pausing the world just for me. I know that it is in these moments where I am genuinely refueled with life sustaining water. Where God breaths a breathe of fresh air into my lungs and I give off a sigh of relief.
All that said, I still struggle with not feeling guilty for retreating from responsibilities and daily noise. God is faithful in reminding me that His Son modeled retreat. He demonstrated His need to be with the Father. How could I need anything less. I also confess that sometimes I wish those moments would never end and that I could stay wrapped up in His arms and stay quiet. But, Jesus also modeled reaching a multitude with the Father's love, so back to the noise I go… patiently waiting for the world to stop again!
http://dancingonhisfeet.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/…
So glad you got the treasure of some time!
This morning instead of following my routine of going straight to the office…I decided to head out to my favorite spot overlooking Gatlinburg TN. It's on top of a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains. The past week I have been trying to process a dream that came to me last Thursday night. This morning I woke up with a more complete revelation; I needed to get away and meditate on what God was putting together in my heart. I thrive on quiet moments through out my day however there's something more precious about being alone meditating on the Father's voice.
It's funny how just changing your routine can create open space to be silent and listen!
Im with Linds! Im the same as her I think! But i have started to notice that I do disconnect when I need from somethings. Like Blogs, blogging and twitter a lot more then I used too.
Through peaceful meditation, we will have the chance to commune with God. Thanks for these ideas.
When I go quiet. I want to meditate and pray. That’s the only way I will be recharge.
We should always find time to rejuvenate and relax and meditate. Those are some important tips to re leave yourself from stress.
I really like silence. I dont even mind awkward silences between people. Its a chance to absorb the situation and get comfortable.
The silence begins to consume all of the noise. It consumes all of the limited ideas of who you are and what you know, until there is nothing left for you to hold on to. And in that you learn to surrender into the silence so that there is only silence, the nature of which is unconditional peace.
Male friends have told me they hate it when a woman asks them during a quiet moment: ‘What are you thinking?’ Women find this a natural question because women tend to go quiet when they feel hurt or lied to.
Yes, I agree to that. If women does not talk it means she has something in her mind and she can’t just burst it out.