The Sound of Silence

Have you ever just listened? I mean really listened?

I’m not talking about how we listen to the TV or the radio, or how we men exercise great listening skills when our wives need to share about something important (you do that right?). I’m talking about shutting it all off, turning your phone off, turning the TV off, no computer, nobody speaking, no distractions.

Yesterday in chapel, our speaker decided that we should take 5 minutes in this kind of environment. What’s 5 minutes right….well, when you’re just sitting in a chair with your eyes closed, not moving, not fidgeting, just simply being silent….it seems a little longer.

Here are my observations from our silent time.

“Wow, five minutes is a long time.”

“Is that the air conditioning or a water pipe, sounds like water running through a pipe.”

“The dishwasher in the staff kitchen is running.”

“How loud is that clock?! Seriously, how on earth do we have chapel in here with a minute hand CLICK, CLICK, CLICK’n away like that?!”

“Wow, do I normally breathe that loud? Everybody must be hearing me breathe.”

After five minutes of silence, a thought struck me. Why is it that I have never heard any of these things before, despite spending countless hours in this room? Seriously, I have been here before for hundreds of events and I have never once heard the clock, the dishwasher, or the water pipe. I didn’t realize I breathe so loudly, or that the person sitting in front of me did as well.

I realized that there is a whole world of sounds that I never hear, because I’m not listening for them. I’m simply too noisy to hear them, and all these sounds go unheard. My ears are turned off to the clock on the wall, the dishwasher, etc….in the same way that when I go to visit family in KY, I no longer hear the train roaring by despite the fact that it does so regularly and just down the road. I’ve tuned it out.

Then a thought occurred to me. Have I tuned out God?

I’m serious, I confess to complaining that I haven’t heard His voice lately. At times I really need to know what to do and He’s silent, and I have expressed my frustration to others. “IF God would just speak, I’d go in that direction, but He’s not saying anything!”

Perhaps God is saying something, but I’m not listening. There among the clock on the wall, the dishwasher and that water pipe is a still, small voice, and I am simply being too loud.

It’s not New Years, but I’ve made a new resolution and today I found myself in our small chapel upstairs. Why? Just to listen. And sure enough my old friends came back to me. There was a familiar clock on the wall, the water pipe humming, and the sound of the dishwasher was replaced with the muted conversations of those on the other side of the wall. And there was the still, small voice, a quiet whisper.

“Do not be afraid.”