April 2021: Stumbing into a Quiet Space

Crunch, crunch, crunch.  I pause.  This is the spot.  I close my eyes and take a deep breath.  The sunshine warms my face.  A sense of calm descends on me and my shoulders relax.  So quiet.  I look up to see the bare branches of the trees reaching out to one another as if to embrace.  The sky seems impossibly blue.  So clear.  I look down.  I am knee-deep in snow.  I see the sun is casting shadows through out the forest.  The snow glitters.  I inhale the cool air.  So pure.  My heart slows and my breathing becomes steady. I exhale. My ears fill with silence.  I close my eyes to savour the moment. My heart begins to sing...
Have you ever stumbled into a quiet space like this?  Sometimes I don’t even realize how much I need silence until after I experience it.  Studies have documented how noise can affect our stress levels and contribute to high blood pressure, anxiety, memory issues and sleep problems.  There is no doubt that silence can be nourishing to our bodies and souls.   Most of us, however, are regularly exposed to a constant stream of noise.  Even when we do have a moment that could be a quiet one, we often feel compelled to fill it with sound or activity.  We turn on the radio, stream music, listen to a podcast or scroll through social media every quiet moment we get.  Our lives are filled with near constant noise and busyness.
Recently I’ve been leading a study group on a book entitled, Whisper, by Mark Batterson.  In it Mark describes seven different languages that God/ Creator/Spirit uses to communicate with us: Desires, Doors, Dreams, People, Promptings and Pain as well as Scripture. In order to be open to hearing and learning through any of these languages, first we need to figure out how to listen. And to really listen, we need to quiet ourselves. I would love to know how you do this.  Do you think our society encourages this?  Is this something that you value?  What gets in your way?  What helps you to be still?