The Gift of Silence

Isn’t it funny how the idea of sitting quietly changes as we grow up? When we’re young, the thought of having to spend time in silence is more of a punishment than a pleasure. We don’t want to sit there doing nothing. How boring! But as we get older, silence becomes golden.

I don’t think it was until late junior high age that I actually sought out silence. Maybe I’d been up late the night before and suddenly the idea of lying down for a few minutes­—perhaps even closing my eyes in the middle of the day—seemed pretty good.

A few years beyond that, of course, and naps became obligatory parts of my college life. Then, when my own children came along, sitting in silence for a few minutes or taking a nap became more precious than gold.

Now that my youngest child is entering her teen years and my oldest just left them, silence is easier to come by. The problem I’m finding now is how to embrace the silence. For so many years, the quiet has been filled with radio, television, cassettes-to-CD’s-to-iTunes, phone conversations, DVDs, podcasts, you name it. There are so many ways—none of which are inherently bad—to fill our minds.

Even waiting in line need not be silent. I just pull out my phone and enter into a conversation, even if it’s a virtual one. Doing the dishes? I listen to music. Tying my shoes? I have the news on until the moment I walk out the door in the morning.

I have forgotten how to be silent. Or, rather, I have forgotten how to fill the silence with thinking. With pondering. With contemplation. I used to mull things over when I had silence. Now I just fill the silence with quickly glossed-over information, which comes at me in rapid-fire. Rather than working through concepts in my quiet moments, I have allowed the noise of the world to fill my brain.

The Bible, especially Psalms, tells us to “meditate” on—as in to consider—the things of God. We’re told to meditate on His law (Psalm 1:2), His love (Psalm 48:9), His mighty deeds (Psalm 77:12), His ways (Psalm 119:15), His decrees (Psalm 119:48), and His precepts (Psalm 119:78).

Back when the psalmists wrote those words, finding silence was probably not the challenge it is today. In church circles, we talk about having a “quiet time” with God. That term has, perhaps, become somewhat old-fashioned, but the concept itself is highly valuable. It is in that time of silent contemplation upon the Word that God can speak to us through His Holy Spirit. Time spent with God will lead us to think as He wants us to think, not as the world tells us to think.

Consider Philippians 4:8 (NIV): “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Thinking about “such things” will become easier and easier as we spend time listening to Him.

And so, I have challenged myself with silence in these days approaching Easter. When folding clothes, I am not listening to podcasts. I’m turning off the news after I hear the headlines and turning off the radio as I drive to work. My sincere prayer is that these times of silence will fill my heart with that which is lovely, good, and pure—that it will become a habit to give myself the gift of silence. I want to fill my head with my own thoughts, not have it filled with the thoughts of others.

The truth is, when we meditate upon the Word, we will find strength and rest for our souls. What a blessed promise in the middle of all the noise.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength…’” Isaiah 30:15 (NIV).

Gretchen O’Donnell is an island girl living on the prairies of southwestern Minnesota, with her husband, two youngest children, and two argumentative cats. Gretchen is learning to embrace the ticking of the clock and trying to not feel as if silence means that the kids must be doing something naughty. Gretchen does freelance writing for her local newspaper and has a weekly faith-based newspaper column, The Disheveled Theologian. She loves telling stories of her ordinary life to help people see the theological truths in their everyday lives.