The only way to hear our inner voices and to process knowledge gained is to feast in the halls of silence. I crave silence and carve out time during the day where I might pursue it and the ripples of peace it leaves behind. Perhaps that is why I love the hymn "Silent Night" - why so many love it. It is hard to find silence and darkness these days, hard to find a night sky where the stars are vivid. Without the silence and the darkness, how can we see the light and hear the truth?
I had a physical last week and told the PA about some pain I was having in my knees. She asked when this happened and I told her when I upped my running mileage from 3-4 mile runs to 6 - 7 mile runs. The doctor came in later after reviewing my charts and asked why I needed to increase the distance in the first place. I told him I liked being outside, away from distractions, and I needed an hour or more to unwind and not just thirty to forty minutes. I very rarely run with an Ipod and running gives me the silent time that I need. Certainly my liking for quiet is a primary reason that I have always loved to swim. Plunge into a pool of deep water and you will find plenty of time to process your own thoughts, even if a team of young people practices around you.
One important aspect of silence is listening. I have always struggled to listen well, preferring instead to talk. It startled me to read this in Richard Foster's Freedom of Simplicity: "Speaking and using words is a form of control, directing the situation. We have to practice being silent and letting things flow over and around us, giving up control" (paraphrased). Upon reflection that made perfect sense; I, like many people, enjoy control and the illusion of control. The more we talk in a conversation the more we feel like we control its flow and the direction of the other participants. Not only is this an illusion but it robs us of others' truths and mysteries. In addition, as Coach John Wooden remarks "why can't we recognize that others will listen better to us if we listen first to them?"
In this holiday season I wish for all of you moments of silence and peace. I write this in the pre-dawn hours at my full house, happy in the knowledge that so many people I love are here . . . and safely asleep. Amidst the hustle and bustle of holiday preparations, parties and planning let us give up some control to listen and to breathe in the stillness. When we cultivate silence we can carry the memory of it with us during our full days, tapping into our memory of stillness to sustain us. These moments occur rarely after a baby is born; perhaps that is why the hymn points out the stillness before Jesus' arrival, and the need for all of us to appreciate the quiet and the time to listen.
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