Lent 2009 finds us featuring several different aspects of our lives that are “Too.” Too loud. Too busy. Too hurried. Too materialistic. Too fearful. Too self centered. Too………….
This week we are giving thought to the volume of our lives. When we quiet ourselves we discover that our lives get so loud that we can’t hear what our own soul is saying, what others are speaking into our lives, and what God is shouting to us. To hear we must enter silence.
I am walking into the quietness of this week with Ruth Haley Barton’s powerful book, “Invitation to Solitude and Silence.” Ruth quotes Gunilla Norris’ “Sharing Silence.”
When we make room for silence, we make room for ourselves…Silence invites the unknown, the untamed, the wild, the shy, the unfathomable—that which rarely has a chance to surface within us.
On page thirty four she includes Henri Nouwen’s powerful statement;
Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life… We do not take the spiritual life seriously if we don not set aside some time to be with God and listen to Him.