Silence

My wise and wonderful husband, Joshua, has been leading a small group of couples for over a year now. . . couples from varying walks of life, varying religious experiences and varying interests at times in life, but we all hold one thing in common, the seeking of God's face and his leading in our lives. Last week, Joshua spoke of silence and the importance of not only studying the Bible, holding those words dear to our hearts and in our minds, praying, and other wonderful times with God that we can find but also, just being silent. Silence is so awkward in the world we live in. As I type, I just finished working out with a DVD and the next workout session after came on and I didn't bother turning it off, so I am being told to "march. . hands on hips", but to me, it is just noise as my workout is complete. Why didn't I just turn it off? Maybe silence reminds me of lonely moments I have had when I longed for my husband to be home from class or maybe, I am just too lazy to even care.

Joshua challenged us in the world like where I sit and type in the noise of a workout video in the background, to find 15 minutes a day where we can just be quiet this week (hopefully turning into something we long for each day!). We can reflect on our day or days that have passed or days to come; we can call to mind God's words which we have been memorizing to have as tools of comfort and peace in our times of challenge and struggle; we can just do our best to push everything aside to hear God's voice, whether it's in a whisper or a thunderstorm in our moment of silence; we can just rest in His care and find peace that yes, life is hard and unknown, but so full of wonder and hope as we look to our Creator, the maker of everything! As I have found these moments to just get away and be quiet the last two days, I have found so much peace and a rejuvination from the craziness that seems to be so overwhelming and so loud at times as I attempt to seek God's face.

It is hard to find quiet in the middle of all the cell phones, ipods, television, traffic, our own rambling and yes, even kiddos running around the house, but I pray that as I continue to find these moments, that I will cherish the time I have in the arms of my awesome God and that I will listen to His voice that I might otherwise miss when I am too afraid of the silence that He has given as such a gift!