If Lent is a time for confession, repentance and seeking to become a more faithful disciple, it is also one that calls us to quiet reflection, to being still in the presence of God. Too easily and often life passes us by as we focus on trivia rather than on what’s really important; on doing rather than being. That’s the theme of the following reflection, again composed for my book Seize the Day.
Be silent for a moment
Silence is more than just a lack of words.
Egyptian proverb
The quieter you become
the more you are able to hear.
Rumi
I have stilled and quietened my soul.
Psalm 131:2
Be silent for a moment –
really silent –
quietening not just your tongue,
but your body,
your mind,
your soul.
Resist the temptation to fill the silence with music or words.
Avoid the urge to think,
to give in to the duties and demands clamouring for your attention.
Withstand the instinct to be busy,
involved in something useful.
For a moment, at least, let all that go,
and allow the stillness to speak to you,
emptying your mind,
and permitting peace to fill it;
then you will realise how rare it is truly to be quiet.
Do not seek answers,
nor look for inspiration,
nor expect revelations,
but simply savour the silence,
and let the tranquillity nurture your being
and nourish your spirit.
Be silent,
and suddenly you will hear what so often passes you by:
the whisper of grass,
rustle of leaves,
drone of a bee,
patter of raindrops;
even, perhaps, the still, small voice deep within –
sounds that in the frantic bustle of life we habitually shut out.
Learn the secret of such stillness
and learn it well,
for if only we could sometimes be silent,
how much more we would hear.