Craving Silence

My life is noisy.  I don’t mean physically noisy (though it can be that too), but what you might call “distractions”, I like to call noise.  And I’m suffocating in it. 

When I wake up, it’s the TV, the news, the weather, my need for information, what’s going on in the world, and what will just help me get through the day.  Then it’s work, the emails, texting, meetings, blogs, none of it bad and all necessary, but often very, very noisy.  Driving around town, I am bombarded with noise, radio, advertisements, reminders of things needed to be done, traffic, people, movement.   (If you’ve ever been to the Chik-fil-A on Parham at midday, or looked for a parking spot at Walmart, then you know what I mean about traffic being noisy).   Even my leisure is filled with noise, music, facebook, twitter, blogs, emails, TV, the kids’ activities.  

For those of you who aren't sure you relate to this idea of technology being noisy, it’s like this…you get on Twitter b/c you have a few minutes, so you start reading people’s tweets, but then you don’t stop, and keep scrolling down because inherently, there is this need within you to make sure you haven’t missed something, 3 minutes becomes 5 minutes, then 10, because the best or most interesting tweet might only be a few more down.  Same with Facebook status…what if your friends have interesting status’, maybe you've been tagged, what’s going on, you don’t want to miss something important.  Don’t even get me started on StumbleUpon or Pinterest.

It’s all noise, constantly, throughout the day….overwhelming and enslaving noise. 

I’ve had a tough year, been surrounded by a lot of pain and suffering and still not understanding most of it.  This past week, I was able to begin a really introspective look at what’s going on in my soul, and I found out that it is full of NOISE.  And that noise is stealing my joy, contentment and most importantly, PEACE. 

I crave the silence…and I mean complete silence, the silence that makes most of us uncomfortable.  Sitting outside with nothing else but me and God.   No computer, no phone, no book, no journal, no music…just silence. 

We all romanticize this notion…oh, if I could just sit and do nothing but think & listen.  But what happens when we do it….mmmm, this is nice, listen to the birds, I’ll pray for a minute…and then the discomfort sets in, it’s too quiet.  Maybe I should check my phone, I’ll get a book to read, I wonder if the laundry is done, or we just fall asleep.  The silence is more than uncomfortable, it makes us afraid, afraid of seeing what’s deep down inside, what God might really say to us when we truly listen. 

Be still and know that I am God.

But I want to, I need to.  I want to block out all the noise of life, and relish in the silence, listening for nothing at all, freeing myself to totally hear from the Lord.  Be undistracted.   So I sit, and look, and think, then close my eyes and listen…

And I’m finding the uncomfortable is bringing comfort, my soul is hearing some peace, the fear is becoming reassurance.  I might tell you in another blog what the Lord has said to me in my silence…but that might be more noise for you.  You need to hear from Him in your own silence.

Will you join me, get unplugged and be silent?