24

"If I had to advise one thing for spiritual growth it would be silence."

Richard Rohr "Letting Go: A Spirituality of Subtraction"

Many of us, including me, live in a world of constant noise and activity and it doesn't take a priest to too tell us, or maybe it does, that the best thing for our souls is a good dose of silence once and a while.

To fulfill a requirement for a course I’m taking I took a day off recently to be silent for 24 hours and it was so good! As required, I didn't take anything but my Bible and my journal. I slept under the stars for a while, watched ducks and bald eagles play on, and over, the lake, was blown away by the majesty and beauty of the coastal mountains, and felt the rhythm of life and the joy of being present for the first time in a long time.



At one point I thought God was telling me to listen, so I listened. At another point I thought God was telling me to watch, so I watched, and close to the end of the 24 hours in silence I thought God told me to practice centering prayer, so I did that too.

No radio. No TV. Other than nature and neighbors playing and working in their yards, there was no noise, or conversations.

During the 24 hours of silence; He made me lie down in green pastures, He led me beside still waters, He restored my soul.