Be Quiet!

I used to be afraid of quiet. Long car rides, extended time alone at home, basically any form of isolation with long periods of silence was scary.

I wasn't comfortable with myself. Quiet allowed dark and condemning voices a chance to shout at me. So, on came the radio, TV or internet; anything to break the silence.

For thousands of years humanity lived in relative quiet. Sure, cities bustled with the noise of people, carriages and even animals, but when you went inside your house or spent time in the country, all you were left with were the sounds of conversation and nature.

We've traveled so far away from that in the past 100 years, we can’t even imagine that kind of life. We can’t imagine a life, where good chunks of our days are filled with nothing but our own thoughts.

I don’t think we were wired for all of this noise. The cacophony of connectedness never gives our brains a chance to process; there’s never time for evaluation. We’re driven by input and impulse.

The noise worked for me pretty well until I woke up one day emotionally and spiritually dead. As a result, I had to walk away from a good job and people I cared about before I damaged them, my family or myself. It was difficult and I had a profound sense of failure.

In that experience, God gave me quiet. Nancy and I spent six months between roles and there were long stretches of silence. It was healing.

Silence can still be uncomfortable and I need it. It can be hard and it’s healthy. It’s when you can sort the condemning thoughts from the confronting ones, guilt from guidance and pain from peace.

It’s time to be quiet.