...ssshhhh

In silence what do you do? What is your natural default position?

To feel oppression from the lack of noise closing in or a sigh of relief that sounds have stopped?

Most of the time we each have a natural default – the way that we are created but additionally our preferred space can also be dictated by mood.

My natural default to silence is to breathe it in, to absorb it and to be still within that space. It feels rare, unique and special and a sense that within the silence there is something to behold.

Beholding the silence, what do I mean?

Perhaps savouring the opportunity, to experience it deeply within our souls. Allowing the faint echo of that sound, to reverberate its way into our consciousness…thinking and feeling. So that being in the same ‘silent’ space as another is simply not experienced in the same way. So that our individual translations of what is within the silence and what it means to us, can be uniquely interpreted.

For me, silence comes with the natural desire to breathe deeply. Silence fills my mind and soul, while the nothingness of the air around me permeates my being. Calming my spirit and slowing my speeding mind.

So as our conscious spirit slows we have the time to let other thoughts and emotions breathe. We can live and experience that which is normally crushed out of our lives. The being and not the doing.

Silence without vision can be even more evocative. Isolating our senses individually and learning to experience the value each brings to our lives is something I have never done. The ability to experience life through sight, sound, touch, smell and taste is a true blessing but I wonder how frequently we have ever thought to isolate our senses and experience them singly and afresh.

As well as words silent or unspoken – prayer can also be expressed through any of our senses. In fact words are often not enough to truly express the deepest emotions of our hearts. What God knows and experiences in us, what He calls us to share with Him and yet what we often so feebly utter.

So in the absence of appropriate expression, silence is often the best I can do.

With an open heart God can commune with us in the space and vacuum that life normally consumes.

…ssshhhh

…what do you feel and how can you experience sensations anew today?