Monday, January 9, 2017

that profound silence

Wow. Thomas Keating teaches us something really important today in A Daily Reader for Contemplative Living.

He says, simply, that God's first language is silence. I will let that swirl around in your mind for a second before I continue.

Let it swirl. :)

Doesn't that make all kinds of amazing sense? When you first start praying, what do you get in response from Him? Usually silence, right? That's Him speaking to you. "Be still and know." "Wait on the LORD." "My soul in stillness waits."

So often we think "I'm so distracted. I fill up the silence in my life with noise, and music, and distractions..." thinking that if we got quiet for a moment, we would hear God. So far, so good. But what we fail (or at least I have always failed) to realize is... the silence ITSELF is God speaking to us.

That peace. That quiet. That moment when the noise and bother of the day fades away, and our minds rest in the quiet of the moment. "Hear that?" "I don't hear anything." "Exactly." You've been there, right? Out in the country, where you don't hear the noise of cars or air conditioners or machines of any kind? The silence can be deafening... that's the voice of God, speaking His message of peace and love into our hearts.

Are you listening?

God, thank You for this great message... that Your first language in our lives is silence.

No comments: