Experimenting with Silence

I've been trying new things in life as of recently.  No I haven't jumped out of an airplane, picked up the french horn or get better at tomahawk throwing.  I am trying new things in terms of personal challenges.  Amongst these stepping stones to (hopefully) become a better person is being comfortable with silence.  It takes about 20 minutes to get to work each morning.  If you took a 20 minute ride to work with me 5 years ago I'd probably be blasting off to Led Zeppelin (wearing all black of course) or some other band on my iPod.

Now I'm trying out silence.  I want to be conscious of the thoughts in my head as I do a normal route each day.  I want to be able to listen to what is actually going on inside my head and hopefully my spirit.  I want to quiet my mind and allow room and time to listen to...well, we'll find out I guess!

Is there something you feel is mundane and you drown out of your day?  I do, that's why I'm changing things up.

Silence is a fence around wisdom. --German Proverb 

Small Battles

Believers in Small Graces
by Kent Nerbern

[Listen to Audio! ]

There are those who search God in the quiet places -- no churches, no public displays of piety, no dramatic or flamboyant rituals.

They may be found standing in humble awe before a sunset, or weeping quietly at the beauty of a Bach concerto, or filled with an overflowing of pure love at the sight of an infant in the arms of its mother.

You may meet them visiting the elderly, comforting the lonely, feeding the hungry, and caring for the sick.

The greatest among them may give away what they own in the name of compassion and goodness, while never once uttering the word “God” out loud. Or they may do no more than offer a smile or a hand to someone in need, or quietly bow their heads at a moment of beauty that passes through their lives, and say a simple prayer of gratitude to the spirit that has created us all.

They are the lovers of the quiet God, the believers in the small graces of ordinary life.

Theirs is not the grand way, the way of the mystic or the preacher or the zealot or the saint. Some would say that theirs is not a way at all. All they know for certain is that life has beauty and a joy that transcends all the darkness that surrounds us, that something ineffable lives beyond the ordinary affairs of the day, and that without this mystery our lives would not be worth living.

I honor those who search for the quiet God, who seek the spirit in the small moments of our everyday life. It is a celebration of the ordinary, a reminder that when all else is stripped away, a life lived with love is enough.

--Kent Nerbern