Silence...

I work in the communications field, which means I have to talk to people all day and give them new ideas about their business.   I have to be kind, listen and validate thoughts and ideas, and be honest, some days I just don’t want to be any of those things.  Some days my patience wears thin and my ability to repeat myself one more time, on the same topic has my hair standing on end. 

So by now you get the picture.  I enjoy my job and am very blessed to have it, but some days when I get in my car I just want silence.  I want the peace of hearing nothing and having to think about nothing. 

The ability to open my window, let the air, and sun hit my skin while driving home can help place me in the right frame of mind.  

There have been many times when I feel like I am going to lose my mind, and speak poorly to someone who doesn’t deserve it, or maybe they do just a little bit, and I will sneak into the bathroom to just take a minute to be quiet.  Just that moment to have clarity and ask God for help can make a huge difference.

I never liked to be in the quiet before.  I always needed to have some kind of sound, whether it is the TV, Radio, or on the phone, I needed some kind of distraction.  I needed to not be able to hear what was running on a loop in my head.

I have found over the years that if I don’t like to be with myself, than whom can I expect to like to be with me.  You sincerely can’t give away something you don’t have, so if I don’t like me, how can I allow anyone else to like me.

Silence has begun to change that for me.  Sitting still and trying to quiet my mind, and enter into the grace and love of Jesus has helped me slowly, begin to accept myself.  I can slowly see the transformation of my mind, and then also seeing that in the faces of the people around me.

I am not sure how many times in the Bible that it says Jesus went away by Himself, or that He wanted to be alone, that He withdrew privately to have solitude.   Jesus needed to break away from all the people, energy and His surroundings to connect to God, so why do we think we shouldn’t do the same thing.

In Matthew 14:13 it says When Jesus heartd it, he withdrew from there privately in a boat to a solitary place.  But when the crowds heard of it, they followed Him (by land) on foot from the towns.

This particular reference was to Jesus hearing of the news about John the Baptist being beheaded.  Jesus was sad and needed to grieve the loss of His cousin and His friend.  

He needed to find silence.  He needed to connect to His God, to His comforter, to His source.

Do you know what a change you would have in your life, if you would take ten or fifteen minutes out of your day and just sit in the silence with God?  I am sure, actually confident, that all the people who say that God doesn’t talk to them, will start to Hear His voice clearly.  They will start to feel a stirring in their soul and their hearts will become more receptive to the leadings of God.

Spending time with God, in His presence, amidst the silence, gives us a time to connect to Him, and recharge our batteries.   When you get very little sleep for an extended period of time, you start to feel sluggish, your mind begins to get foggy, you’re eating patterns worsen ,and your attitude and behavior is not a clear representation of you. 

All these things begin to happen and then worsen the longer your lack of sleep persists.  These are the same things that happen when you don’t spend time with God.  When you don’t take time to acknowledge your need for God, for a Savior, you are starting your day off in the defensive position.  You are starting your day off in weakness.

You are coming from a place of depletion instead of a place of being full, and recharged.  When this happens over and over again, you can see your spirit, your emotions, your thoughts, everything, begin to dwindle and become raw.

Why do you think this happens?  Why do you think that when you haven’t tapped in to God, you aren’t living up to your best?  Do you think it’s because we were created to commune with Him.  We were created to spend time in His presence and to soak in His knowledge and love, like a sponge.

I challenge you, to every day for thirty days, to set aside ten minutes to spend time alone and quiet with God.   I will do this with you, as I myself, am not as disciplined as I should be in this aspect.

Watch how when you spend time with God you will begin to see your life unfolding.  You will begin to see you have patience for things you never had patience for before.  When you spill the milk, or get behind that one car driving ten miles per hour under the speed limit, you will be at ease.  There will be a calm place inside of you that will absorb all of the frustration.

That calm place by the way, is the Holy Spirit.

When you slow down, relax, or try to, and shut out the world with all of its noise for ten minutes every day you will wonder how you ever made it any other way.

If Jesus, the son of God, needed to break away, leave the group and be silent, then we should make this a necessary thing to do every day, so we can be our best self for the world. 

Jesus needed time with God, to sit in His presence and feel His love and acceptance.  Jesus needed for God to speak a word of wisdom to Him, and give Him direction on His life, so we need it too!

Now, don’t try to tell me that you are not Jesus, and you can’t do this because you are not Jesus, and Holy blah blah blah.  Keep in mind when you accepted Jesus as your Savior you inherited all that He is, and all that He has.

That means you have the ability just like Jesus to sit in front of God and ask for help, ask for understand, ask for comfort ,or ask to be loved.  You have that right, you have that blood bought right, and you should use it.

Silence… It’s not a bad thing; it’s not a thing to feel like you are being tortured to do.  It’s a God thing.  It’s a Jesus thing.  It’s a Bible thing.  And it should be a You thing!!

Now sit… be silent… be still… and listen!