The daily beauty of quietness

"The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium." N. Platt

The act of putting pen to paper (or in this case, fingers to keyboard) does make me pause and think and hopefully think a little more deeply. I was thinking about silence the other day. There is a vast difference between silence and quietness. You can have a quiet heart and soul while things rage around you. But silence requires just that. I was sitting the other day and thinking that although I greatly enjoy listening to music I appreciate my silence most of all. Then I stopped in my thinking to realize that it really wasn't silence at all. These are the things I could hear in the few minutes I really listened: a dog barking, the clock ticking and occasionally chiming, a candle sputtering, the wind blowing, the furnace starting, a faucet occasionally dripping and a car starting. I realized that my silence was filled with noises, comforting noises. So last night I listened in the night to see if I could hear silence. Nope! Still the wind blew, my husband was breathing lightly and the house had settling noises. If I were outside at night I know I would hear even more noises...so I came to the conclusion that as long as I am alive and breathing I will always hear some noise. The levels are just different depending on what noises are around and how many.

The Bible has several things to say about silence...here are just a few I was thinking about.

Psalms 62:1 "My soul waits in silence for God only..."

Revelation 8:1 "And when He broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour."

Ecclesiastes 3:7 "A time to be silent, and a time to speak."

Psalms 23:2 "He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul."

Proverbs 17:1 "Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it than a house full of feasting with strife."

I Thess. 4:11 "...to make your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business."

I Timothy 2:2 "...in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness.."

I think there is no real and complete silence on earth...just the comfort of quietness. In the above passage in Revelation the silence in heaven before the 7th seal must be truly terrifying. I am thankful today for little comforting sounds in my quietness....for God's acceptance of my repentance.

In today's culture quietness is a hard commodity to find. But it is worth seeking after...and learning to pattern our lives along its lines. The beauty of quietness..