Quiet is Loud.
In a world of excess, greed, jealousy and poor self-esteem everything is so very loud.
Talk has become cheap. Wait time is an inconvenience. If respectful negotiating doesn’t do the trick, the world presents examples of how to yell, storm and berate until you get your way (don’t know what I mean? Work some sort of customer service job for just a few months).
So, go home and relax. You’ve earned it.
Kick your feet up and watch some TV. You should enjoy some rest and some quiet time… so how come you don’t really feel that refreshed after sitting there for a few? Didn’t you enjoy your quiet time? No? Did it have anything to do with the fact that even television, a tool for relaxing and escapism doesn’t quiet your mind?
But in order for things to be quiet that means that everything has to stop, right?
Isn’t that counter-productive? How can you burn the midnight oil if you’re too busy blowing out the candle? How can you keep ahead of the times if you’re not swimming in the noisy stream?
The answers are simple:
-No.
-It doesn’t matter how much oil you have if the wick has burnt out before the darkest night even began.
-And the simplest: you can’t. Though you should find it good to know that history has kind of a tacky way of repeating itself. I believe that truly the only thing that ever stands out about one time period to the next are the brilliant people, innovations and ideas that decided to grow vertically rather than just swim and expand horizontally.
But what does this have to do with silence? What does it have to do with choosing the quiet side-streets as opposed to the highway during rush hour? What does it have to do with you and finding true refreshment, rest and peace of mind?
Well, the answer is simple
JUST BE QUIET AND FIND OUT!
No, seriously. Just get quiet and find out.
Skip the TV show tomorrow.
Call the person back tomorrow to talk about the boring, useless drama that will probably still be looming in the air some 24 hours from now (… or not. Feel free to miss that call, if you’d like).
Find some calm, ambient music.
And just be quiet.
just
be
quiet.
I don’t ever realize how much time I spend at the mercy of others. I am a writer, a musician, a friend, a sister, a daughter, a cousin, a stranger, a customer, a minister, a team member, a church-goer, a neighbor, a mentor, a person… in no particular order. We all wear so many hats.
I don’t even think about the many roles we play in life. I never even realize how much time I spend doing things that probably don’t even matter. For example, in a day, I probably check my e-mail at least half a dozen times. Checking to see if a client responded, setting up interviews and appointments for the following week, trying to develop and flesh out an article with an editor, seeing if anyone had any questions… even on my “days off”. Even in the times I tell myself “no work tonight”. Even when I know I need to skip it, I do…
And it’s made me hungry.
It’s made me itch.
I need my notifications. I need my e-mails. I need to know what’s going on. I need my useless information. I need to learn something new. I need to check my friend’s last tweet. I need to return that phone call. I need to text those people back.
Recently, I’ve begun skipping out on Facebook. I used to check it every day without fail, sometimes multiple times a day. It was pretty bad considering I hated the site when my friends got me to sign up. Now, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying your Facebook page (go add me if you want), but when I check it more obsessively than things that are important that’s a problem. When I would rather read useless updates about how you just ate some mediocre waffles in the shape of a state than pick up a real book, there’s a problem.
When I’d rather call a friend and complain about how “hard” my life is than take a quiet moment to pray and have a conversation with God first (if at all), there’s a problem.
Especially because I want quiet time. Especially because I crave it.
I crave peace and tranquility. I crave not always having to answer to people about things that probably are not even their business in the first place just so we can pretend to be “gal pals”. I crave a place where I can honestly and openly show the little bastard-child I am without people growing quiet when I enter the room or hearing my name roll off hurtful lips. I crave a place where I don’t desire to be the person that says horrible things about others. I crave a place where I don’t need make-up, where I don’t need to play the right notes, where I don’t need to make an excuse for my past, where no one feels sorry for me, where no one is ashamed of me, where no one uses me or neglects me or leaves me out in the cold. I crave a place where Love is not an idea or a feeling, but a force as a tangible being. I crave a place where romance is real and I don’t have to dress a certain way to be told I’m beautiful. I want the place where the Love lasts forever and no matter where I’ve just been, I always know I’m home.
A common tale is that there is no physical place like this, short of Heaven…
But that’s not true.
I’ve been there. It’s not just Heaven.
I can SEE it.
We can see it every single day. Every day on the people that have been with the Maker of this very far-away Heaven and the vast heavens I stare at each night to watch the stars.
We can live there. We can see it every day when we quiet the distractions, shut off the noise and just
be
quiet.
For the greatest advice I ever got is that this place is not reserved for me, for my community, for anyone just when we die. This place is a place I carry in my heart.
You can, too.
Some say home is where the heart is… they also say that Jesus comes to live in there when you give your life in surrender… knowing this brings tears to my eyes. Not because I read it in a cheesy Hallmark card or saw it on some commercial. It brings tears to my eyes because while they say those things, He says this:
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” -John 14.14
If home is where my heart is, and my heart is where He has made His home then I see no reason to panic and create such a commotion anymore. If this is the case, then I see how quiet time can change my life. I can see how moments with God can make that world —that little slice of Heaven— described above become a physical place in the world around us.
I want that quiet time with God like Adam had.
I want that quiet time with God like Enoch had.
Like Moses had.
Like David had.
Like Esther had.
Like my grandpa had.
Like Pastor Quimby has.
Like Christ had.
I want to walk with my God. I want to invite Him in to stay with me like Zacchaeus (Luke 19.1-1O). I want to praise Him with all I have to give like that heart-broken prostitute (John 12.3). Even if I’m not the loveliest thing He’s ever seen, I want my offering to be the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen and everything I have. I want to cling to Him like John did (John 12.23). I want to trust Him like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did (Dan. 3). I want to speak joyfully about my time with Him like the woman at the well (John 4.39-42).
But more than anything… I just want to enjoy the moments of real, honest, quiet time with Him.
Because I know I won’t be lost anymore…
I know I’ll know my home,
my worth,
my purpose…
and everything else that was just too busy screaming for my attention — while the Creator of the universe is simply waiting for it— will just have to wait.
And that calls louder to me than any
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any status,
any sum.
Let the Revival Begin.
