The Lord said,"Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by."Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
[1 Kings 19:11-12]
~ Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves ~
Thomas Carlisle
Ideas, plans, dreams and visions can be born or developed greatly in the realm of silence.
Tragically, though, silence has become a vacuum which modern man abhors. The average teenager surrounded by his radio, stereo, television and video is constantly under the seige and bombardment of noise. Adults too, condition themselves into a different style but still a noise-orientated world. Most individuals have great difficulty in handling silence. It almost blows their mind. They become restless, agitated or at the least, uncomfortable in the atmosphere of silence. Rush and bustle, hurry and scurry are the order of the day.
When did you alst sit down, relax and enter into a time of quietness?
Do you make a regular practice of this?
I find that most Christians, in the society that we live in, have real difficulty in learning and practising the art of divine quietness. We have been conditioned to think that activity, busyness and noise is where it is all at, and that inactivity and quietness is associated with laziness and inefficiency. How wrong are we!
It is usually our constant, activity-orientated lives that dry us up and break us up, when our regular times of quietness would refresh, inspire and strengthen us greatly. Our bodies and our soul were designed for balance. It is in this realm that we must learn to balance the extremes of incessant activity and monastic isolation; to create that balance and harmony which the Lord desires for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment