When Silence Isn't Quiet After All!

I just finished reading Jennyhope's post on The Power of Silence (A.W Tozer) and it actually made me stop my mad, hectic rush of grading papers. Yes, it is that time of year again when I'm flooded with student papers. So, what am I doing now? Reading blogs of course!!! But I digress. . . .

Last weekend at the retreat/conference I attended the group was put on "silence" both Friday and Saturday nights. Basically, we were on our honor not to talk after we left the retreat site and headed back to our various hotels.

Now, while silence may seem like a pretty easy thing to do, it's actually more of a challenge than you might think. Just the little practical things like asking for more towels or ordering breakfast could prove to be a challenge. Add to that the fact that I'm an extrovert and well. . . you can see how this might have been just a wee bit of a challenge for me.

What I found, however was that these extended periods of silence were the most powerful times I've experienced lately. It's amazing just what you can actually hear when you stop talking and start listening. So perhaps it's time to stop talking and start listening. Hey you could even put yourself on silence. Now there's an idea.

Try it! My guess is that once you "adjust" to it, you'll find that that "quiet time" really isn't that quiet at all.

Enjoying the Silence,
~Cheryl