Deacon Tom Writes,
“The Sounds of Silence”
We said goodbye to Summer just last week. The arrival of Fall is usually a time to
catch our breath. Vacations have ended; the kids are back to school. We welcome
this brief silence before we gear back up for the
holidays. Maybe we can craft a new vision for ourselves in the few silent days
that Autumn takes root. But this year, for those living in the Caribbean,
Eastern Texas, the Florida Peninsula, the Southern coastal United State, there
was no quiet time, no chance to reflect on the change of seasons, no chance to
catch a breath before things ratchet up again.
Hurricanes
Harvey and Marie and the devastating earthquake in Mexico have taken away any chance for their victims to ponder the change of seasons or to enjoy any quiet time they be accustomed to having this time of year. Key West and Southern Florida were pummeled; many
of the islands in the Caribbean were leveled. Parts of Mexico brutally shaken, Puerto Rico was devastated.
Nature herself imposed an eerie and unwelcomed silence upon millions of people. No lights or
hot water, drinking water, no computers, cell phones or WII, no XBox, no gas,
food spoiling in the refrigerator / freezer; no time for silent reflection of any kind. It will take months to return to normal, and, many suggest that there is a new
“normal” to which people will have to adjust. In the matter of several hours
millions of people were tossed back to bygone days when silence was the natural
order of things.
So many people have lost everything they have worked all their lives to obtain. Yet, if the truth be known, they may have been robbed of something I believe is equally important. They have lost that little bit of silence that nature affords those who seek her. Silence
i an essential ingredient for spiritual growth. Just like plants need light and water to
take root and grow, we need silence if we are to grow spiritually. The language
of God is silence and it is in silence that we hear the voice of God. Yet, we
live in a society where there is a cacophony of sound surrounding us constantly
and making it difficult, if not impossible, to hear the voice of God within. To
balance this din we need to find some quiet space to process the events of our
lives and find out where God is working in them, or where He is absent. We need
some reflection time to let the words of Scripture from the weekend reverberate
within us so that the Word of God can come alive in our hearts, take root in us so
that we may become living witnesses to the truth that we profess.
Jesus
told the Chief Priests and the elders that, “tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before
you!” That’s certainly no way to make friends and influence people. Yet, His
message is poignantly clear: gaining access to the kingdom of God requires a complete
turnabout in our lives. And how could that ever happen if we are not spending
quality time, alone and in silence, struggling with our sinfulness, wrestling
with those character defects that gnaw at us, or seeking to soften our hardness
of heart.
We
don’t need another hurricane to come through and leave us in the dark, fearful and unable to enter into the silence of our hearts. We can make a voluntary choice to unplug ourselves from the
noise and din of this world while we pray for those who have lost so much and wait
for God to come and fill the silence in our lives.
Enjoy
the day!
Deacon
Tom
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