You would think it would be easy to be in the here-and-now when you are housebound.
My ‘here’ is very comfortable: lemon walls, white cupboards, two pillows on my bed, the birds starting to sing for morning. Spring is tentatively tiptoeing in, bruised by all the snow and rain.
But the ‘there’ creeps in too.
The ‘there’ is important: friends, relationships, appointments, dreams, plans. I tap on my iPad, and the sound is satisfying. I click, and it feels important. I am lying down, but I am opening doors, creating worlds, laughing with friends. There is the noise of words on the screen even in the silence of the house, and these distract me from the alone-ness.
And then, there are times like today, where I stop and I feel that silence creeping through the net curtains.
When so many are calling your name, how will you know that it is not Eli, but the Lord?
Here I am. Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.
It’s the return of Five-minute-Friday! This was my best five minutes on ‘here’.
Over to you:
- How do you feel about silence?
- To what extent are you pushing God’s voice out with the noise and busyness of your daily life?
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I find myself uncomfortable with silence. I believe because that is when my negative thoughts begin to speak so loud. I need to learn to listen for and focus on the voice of Christ
That’s a really helpful aspect of why so many find silence difficult, I think. The negative thoughts! Yes – i totally get this. Sometimes it’s hard to get silence even when your silent – your own internal voice drowns out all else, and you have to read the words of scripture and shout them over the top.
So good. What a lovely picture of the “here”. Thank you for sharing this today. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts and words.
Thanks Debi, for stopping by via Lisa-Jo’s!
This is really beautiful. I enjoyed reading your insight.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Tanya, this made me long for some silence. And it reminded me that I often assume others have an easier time finding it, as though our external environment is what allows us to be silent. But your writing reminds me that I need to change my heart and wait in silence no matter where I physically am instead of just waiting to really be somewhere quiet. It’s really the noisiness of my heart I need to quiet.
Sometimes your comments makes me think, “yes – that’s it – that’s the thing I was trying to say, or half-thinking but without knowing it.” Thank you – you bless me.
Have I mentioned how annoyed I am that there is an ocean between us? I feel the same way about what you write. Wouldn’t it be so lovely just to meet somewhere and chat? Yes it would.
It REALLY would. I was thinking that, just this morning.
I find I am very easily distracted, and I’m very grateful to this post, as a reminder. Thank you.
Oh, me too! Me too!
Hi Tanya
I agree with Mark’s comment. Your reach is worldwide.
I myself, am very comfortable with silence. I’m an empty-nester and have the house to myself every day. I spend too much time, nearly every morning, reading blogs and answering personal email. I have to get my priorities straightened out. Sometimes I let Christian blogs be my ‘devotional’ for the day, and that ought not to be so. Then, there’s the television! Am trying to leave it off most of my mornings. Christian programming can also take the place of the real thing.
(Speaking of, how does one UN-subscribe from your blog? Please, dear Tanya, do not take this as a personal affront. I’m just receiving too many blogs in my inbox every day, and I HAVE to make some choices here. I will still check in and ‘read’ you from time to time–you’re on my list–but I’ve overdone it with the subscriptions. Sorry.)
Jillie,
You might check the email you get from blogs. Usually at the bottom of the email it will have either a “manage your subscriptions” section or perhaps one for that particular blog.
Thanks Jillie – yes, I too know the temptation of letting others’ blog be my devotional!
As Mark said, there should be an unsubscribe option at the bottom of the email. If there’s not or you have trouble, let me know and I can do it manually. 🙂
I love how you write abotu silence here. sometimes I think I let the silence get so loud that it drowns out God’s whispers to me. thank you for your beautiful words.
I love how you write about silence here. sometimes I think I let the silence become so loud that God’s whispers to me are dorwned out. Beautiful post.
Wow. I read that sentence three times over – it’s such a beautiful thought. Thank you.