Category: silence

Silence of the heart.

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Silence of the heart is necessary so you can hear God everywhere….in the closing of a door, in the person who needs you, in the birds that sing, in the flowers, in the animals. Mother Teresa in No Greater Love

My husband says he likes to hunt but I don’t remember him ever killing anything. He just likes to sit in the silence in the woods and observe God’s beautry around him. He communes with creation. Most of us just walk by a beauriful flower or miss the glorious sunset. We don’t know how to silence our hearts and see God’s beautiful world.

Prayer: Give us, Lord, the ability to find that silence of the heart. In its center let us learn about the needs of your world and act on those needs. AMEN

Silence

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Today I realized that I haven’t written in quite a while and need to get back to posting. I have been thinking about this quote.

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To know the guidance of God’s Spirit, you need to be still and silent. In the cadence of your day, create some enclosures of silence where you pause and breathe and are really present to God’s presence.

-Br. Curtis Almquist
Society of Saint John the Evangelist

It is important to take that time to rest in silence with God. Don’t expect for something to always come to you. It doesn’t matter. Just sitting silent and turning toward God is enough. Some people like to use the name “Jesus” over and over to focus their thoughts. Sometimes music helps. The music from the Taize community is particularly helpful. Here is one that could be used. Watch the beautiful scenes or close your eyes and just move into the song.

Spend time with God

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the-more-you-know-god-21 Corinthians 2:14 The Message 

14 The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion.

Do we really take the time to get to know God? We get to know people by spending time with them. We can’t know those that we stay away from. There are so many ways to spend time with God. We can meet in prayer, in silence, in church, and any other place that we choose. God is waiting for us. God is always ready. It is up to us.

Prayer: God, our companion on the way, help us to seek you in everything that we do. You are always there. We are the ones who back away. Remind us to spend time with you.

Stillness

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Work is not always required….there is such a thing as sacred idleness, the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected.     George Macdonald

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We have to take time to be still. Too often busy-ness keeps us moving all the time. Only in stillness can we hear the things God wants to whisper to us. Take the time for stillness and quiet so you can hear God.

Could you?

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I decided it is better to scream. . . . Silence is the real crime against humanity.
-Nadezhda Mandelstam, author

Most of us are aware that when something evil is going on silence allows it to continue. God calls us to step up. One who did and forfeited his life was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. During Hitler’s reign he left a place of safety in Britain and the US to return to Germany and work against Hitler. He was executed only a short while before the end of the war.

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How many of us would be willing to go to prison or give our life to stop evil? I hope I would. Would you?

Gracious God, give us the strength and courage to face and fight evil. AMEN

 

A Quiet Day

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He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.1 John 2:2

A quiet day. Jesus is in the tomb. It is all over. His body was taken down and wrapped for burial. On this day he is gone. Take time on Holy Saturday to pause and think about what sort of day it was for the disciples.

Prayer: “Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.” Taize

 

Act

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Psalm 16:7-8

7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
    in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I keep the Lord always before me;
    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

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The Lord does give us counsel. However, we do have to listen and then act. His counsel is immaterial if we chose not to act on it. Have you ever woken in the night with someone on your mind? Someone random? I have and I finally got the idea to pray for that person. I had no idea why. As far as I knew there was no problem. Later on I would find that the person needed prayer. I am not always that good at listening but I know that I must pay attention and hear when God speaks. It is not always easy. “Be still and know that I am God.”

Intimate God, you know us well. We don’t always pay attention or follow through. Help us to be still and listen. AMEN

Questions and answers

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Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple. ———-Dr. Seuss

Sometimes we want to intellectualize our faith. We continue to ask question that have no logical answers. Questions that can’t be proved or disproved. We need to sit in silence and listen for God. God could answer all those questions but he knows we don’t need to know. We just need to trust in him.

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All knowing God, we always want to be able to prove things and have understandable answers. Help us to trust that you know best. AMEN

Listen

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Why are we the last ones to see what God wants? —————Suzanne Boyd

We go to church. We supposedly read the Bible. We take classes about God. We talk to other Christians but how often do we spend time listening? We have been told that God speaks in silence and yet silence is something most of us don’t like. We watch TV, listen to music, read electronic media but we don’t just sit in silence and wait for God. That is why we are the last to hear God speak.

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Patient God, you speak to us again and again and yet we seldom stop to hear. Help us to learn to stop and listen for your voice. AMEN