The Value of Silence
- heartsinger1
- Jul 6, 2020
- 2 min read
"Simply bringing yourself quietly before God will do more than worrying or being too religious. Silence is so important!" Fenelon
It's not necessary to cloister yourself for a block of time to find silence. There are many ways to be silent.
letting others lead in conversations
not interrupting
silencing our thoughts of what to say next and fully listen
maintaining eye contact with the one speaking
thinking before speaking
Fenelon encourages the reader to, "Learn to love God's will more than the sweetness of self-chosen prayers."
Silence is an act of self-control.
Self-control is one step in the ladder of virtues listed in 2 Peter 1: 5-7. The bottom rung is faith. To faith you add goodness, according to the New International Version.
The word goodness is more complicated than English permits. It is more accurately translated, in the New American Standard Bible, as 'moral excellence' or integrity. Integrity is a combination of courage, nobleness, and moral valour.
Next, according to Peter's teaching, faith plus integrity equals understanding, or knowledge. Not head knowing, but rather, heart knowing; the knowledge of the ways of God. This kind of knowledge requires relationship.
It's the time-spent-together kind of knowledge that leads to the next rung on the ladder of virtues; self-control.
Interestingly the Passion Translation reads, the strength of self-control. This implies a trained muscle. Self-control can be incrementally practiced to become stronger. So, if silence is truly an act of self-control, surely it's not too difficult a habit to nurture.
Try it out. Listen more than talk today. Weigh each word that proceeds from your mouth. Understand the power of words; life or death. What are you speaking over yourself and others? Understand words live forever.
Temper your need to be heard, or understood, with silence. Then you can climb the next rung on the ladder of virtues and gain patient endurance.
The picture painted by the word used for patient endurance is that of one remaining behind. In our world of, 'get ahead at any cost', the idea of remaining patiently behind is foreign.
But isn't this how we negotiate conversation?
Interrupting
thinking of what to say next instead of fully listening
needing to add my sage advice or wisdom for the topic on the table
keeping up with the latest gossip or news
But if we practice silence in our daily conversations we gain, not only self-control, but also patient endurance. As we learn to remain behind patiently we develop reverence, or godliness. Which leads us to the ability to have an attitude of mercy and forgivingness toward others. And brotherly kindness bring us to the top tier on the ladder of virtues; Love.
Love is the answer. Jesus walked it and talked it. Love God. Love yourself. Love others.
And what is more beautiful than comfortable silence between deeply loved companions?
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