Silence in the Storm

“Silence introduced in a society that worships noise is like the moon exposing the night. Behind darkness is our fear. Within silence our voice dwells. What is required from both is that we be still. We focus. We listen. We see and we hear. The unexpected emerges. The act of listening is the act of creating.” Terry Tempest Williams

In the silence your heart speaks, whispering truth. Press on, stay, just focus on today. The swirling world can swirl outside. Within your heart, a sanctuary. Dwell within the possibility. Leaning into mystery; a dark and scary place. Held by light within, don’t follow after fear. Breathe in and let the light grow big, it will guide you through the dark. With each exhale release a little bit. Surrender your control, you will not need it here. In the land where you are not the one who has to make the calls, you can find a little rest and begin to see through the fog. In the silence, it starts to clear and the break necking speed begins to slow. It feels like you are losing all control. You are! It was not meant for you in the first place. Do not outrun grace. Soften and allow the Spirit to guide you on the path that leads to life. When you are feeling like you are in a battle, close the door. Turn out the light. Begin again. The way to peace sounds simple, actually it is. But we are complex beings and are continually getting in the way. Our work is not that of putting on or learning some new trick. It is more about letting go and taking off the chains that bind.

Tell me what to do, and I will do it. Open up the door, I will walk through it. Just sit in the silence, until the storm clouds begin to lift. After the rain comes a rainbow, a beautiful gift. Soften to receive a thousand different hues, painted across your soul, creating a different view. Letting go of tension, blessings flow right in. Open hand, receiving… life begins to spin. From dark and dull and dreary to joy unspeakable. This is what you are meant for.

I believe this and have experienced it first hand and yet I wrestle. I tussle with God and go back to my old ways of fear and control countless times each day. I choose to hold within me conflict that I cannot control. I pick up packages of sorrow and let them pull me to the depths. I ride the waves of elation to the top of the highest peak and let the storms of life crash and break within me. I feel to the depths and the heights and am thankful that I do, but I crave the peace of stillness and imagine that you do too. Balance is an illusion just outside our reach, always keeping me striving and grasping for that perfect peace. The solution lies in non-doing, in laying the burden down. In trusting in God’s perfect plan that is unfolding right now. I always want to see more than the moment will reveal. And yet the work is returning to that which is within my view. Drinking it in like a cold tall glass of water. My soul is quenched. Gratitude clears away the insatiable need for more. It is and so be it. Amen

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Jesus Christ took hold of me.” Phil 3:12