LENTEN REFLECTION ON LISTENING
Poet Gunilla Norris wrote:
Silence is something like an endangered species.
The experience of silence is now so rare
that we must guard it and treasure it.
I find that silence enters my life rarely. My everydays are always accompanied by noise: the radio, shopping mall music, announcements in supermarkets, television, traffic. It simply is what is normal for me. So normal is it that an absence of noise seems to create a heavy void, a black hole that lacks vitality. I then feel uncomfortable until I can quickly return to the normal.
Recently, I became ill for several days. It was not a serious condition - no temperature, normal blood pressure, a slight feeling of nausea, a dull headache and no appetite. I could push the nausea and headache aside for periods when I turned to casual activity. When that activity stopped, the sick feelings returned and I wanted only to sleep. On impulse, I turned off the constantly-on radio.
Rather than feeling the usual uneasiness, I quickly fell into a relaxed sleep. Over the next two days, the radio remained silent. And as I began to feel healthier, the quiet around me remained peaceful, comforting even. There was no intrusion from the world beyond the walls of my personal space.
I want to recapture those moments of peace I felt when my body needed to heal. And what more appropriate time to do that than now? There will be no expectations. I want simply to experience silence and to open my mind to what may or may not come. In silence and simply by being silent, I open myself to His voice. I will let that be...
In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. – Mother Teresa
Barbara White
The experience of silence is now so rare
that we must guard it and treasure it.
I find that silence enters my life rarely. My everydays are always accompanied by noise: the radio, shopping mall music, announcements in supermarkets, television, traffic. It simply is what is normal for me. So normal is it that an absence of noise seems to create a heavy void, a black hole that lacks vitality. I then feel uncomfortable until I can quickly return to the normal.
Recently, I became ill for several days. It was not a serious condition - no temperature, normal blood pressure, a slight feeling of nausea, a dull headache and no appetite. I could push the nausea and headache aside for periods when I turned to casual activity. When that activity stopped, the sick feelings returned and I wanted only to sleep. On impulse, I turned off the constantly-on radio.
Rather than feeling the usual uneasiness, I quickly fell into a relaxed sleep. Over the next two days, the radio remained silent. And as I began to feel healthier, the quiet around me remained peaceful, comforting even. There was no intrusion from the world beyond the walls of my personal space.
I want to recapture those moments of peace I felt when my body needed to heal. And what more appropriate time to do that than now? There will be no expectations. I want simply to experience silence and to open my mind to what may or may not come. In silence and simply by being silent, I open myself to His voice. I will let that be...
In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. – Mother Teresa
Barbara White
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