Freedom in Lent - Day 12
I am a word person, I kind of trade in words. Words on the page, words in sermons, words in liturgy, words in reports, blog posts, the list goes on. I'm also one who fills their time with sound - music as I read or write, audiobooks and podcasts as I drive, TV to entertain in the evenings, concerts, karaoke, improv and comedy for evenings out.
In the early days of my Christian journey I was told that to have any kind of legitimate 'spiritual life' I had to have a 'Quiet Time' every day where I read my Bible and spent time in prayer. I hated it, and was constantly feeling guilty that I had no 'discipline' to do this. As I moved towards Ordination I discovered the joy of the pattern of the Daily Office which indeed had Psalm and Scripture and prayers which moved and inspired me, which had pauses and moments of silence but which also engaged my love of words.
As this form of prayer went on I found the pauses, the silences, became longer. A minute or two to reflect on the Gospel for the day, or a time of silent prayer. Then I started intentionally switching off music or tv to allow me to take some of the noise out of my life.
Silence has become not a discipline, but a liberation. It allows me to think, to centre myself, to be creative, and to listen - to my heart, to the world around me, to the whisper of the Divine as it comes to me, in silence. I hope that you, too, have time and space for silence and learn to appreciate and feel freed by it, as I have.
(The Word of the Lord) said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.
1 Kings 19.11-12
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Artwork - Le Christ du Silence. Odilon Redon (1840–1916).