Faces on Faith: Silence and the portable soul
Throughout the ages many wise persons have taught that having a relationship with God was found in silence. The key to knowing the Holy One, they have noted, is taking the time to be still, to be silent, to simply say, “I’m here,” and then to listen.
For most of us that is far easier said than done.
Poet and essayist Kathleen Norris has spent some of her time teaching elementary grade students in the schools of North and South Dakota. As an artist in residence she helps them develop an appreciation for poetry. Often she teaches them about the importance of silence.
Her method involves having them make a lot of noise — children always welcome the chance to make noise in school — and then, in contrast, to simply sit in silence for a minute. Then she has them write about the experience.
Their descriptions of the noise she says are often clichéd, things like “we sounded like a herd of elephants.” But, she writes, “silence was another matter.” (Amazing Grace, 17) One boy wrote, “silence is a tree spreading its branches to the sun.” Another child described it as “spiders spinning its web.” But it was the musing of a little girl from a tiny town in North Dakota that most impressed Norris: “Silence,” wrote the little girl, “reminds me to take my soul with me wherever I go.” (Ibid)
Maybe you already incorporate some silence into your noisy life. Maybe you already allow yourself to slow down and take time to be still. Maybe you’ve already found comfort in simply spending time with God. Maybe you’re already listening.
But maybe not. Maybe you are overwhelmed with the inner noise and outer commotion that is so often a part of life in the twenty-first century. Maybe you can’t even hear yourself think. Maybe all you can hear is your own thinking! If that’s the case, know there is hope. Know that times of silence can be crafted in most any life. But it won’t just happen. You must commit yourself to taking time, maybe just five minutes a day, to sitting in silence and listening for God’s stirring in your soul. You may not hear a loud voice, it may simply be an intuition, or a gentle nudge. But you need to be listening. And to listen you need to be still. You need to be quiet. You need to be silent.
The Rev. Dr. John H. Danner is the senior pastor at Sanibel Congregational United Church of Christ.