Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – January 10, 2015
Sound or Silence? God is with Us in Prayer
Silence—and its polar opposite, noise. Rev. Howell says some penetrating things about both subjects. Like fearing silence, and being distracted by noise.
Do I fear silence, Lord? And, what about the opposite? I know I am so easily distracted by noise. (And pretty, shiny objects, too.)
I can vividly remember, in my teens and twenties, shying away from silence. I was often afraid of being alone. Yet, I also clung to God and was alone in the Heavenly presence. I started my relationship with God, my seeking to know God more intimately, in those decades. I can also remember some significant times of prayer and communion with God, in those decades.
Often, even now, I avoid silence, avoid self-reflection and self-discovery. I know—intellectually—that God knows me more intimately than I can possibly know myself, yet I can be afraid. As Howell says, we can be “afraid that God might just disturb us, afraid that God might really take us somewhere we prefer not to go.” [1] (40)
God willing, may God guide and guard us always, wherever we may travel in life.
Alleluia, amen!
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[1] James C. Howell, The Beautiful Work of Learning to Pray, Abingdon Press (Nashville, TN: 2003), 40.
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