I don’t know about you, but I crave silence.  I want to get away from the noise and the din.  I find myself searching for it at times during the day.  In an article I found in UTNE, Kathleen Dean Moore writes, silence creates an opening, an absence of self, which allows the larger world to enter into our awareness.  It brings us into contact with what is beyond us, its beauty and mystery.  Silence is not the absence of sound, but a way of living– an intentional awareness, an expression of gratitude, to make of ones own ears, ones own body, a sounding board that resonates with the vibrations of the world. 

     Perhaps what I am craving in the silence is to make space for what is beyond me.  To hear the still small voice that Elijah heard in spite of the wind, storm, and earthquake.  Maybe it is to listen to the sound and voice of all creation calling out praise to God and to allow myself and the Spirit within me to join in the chorus.  Whatever the reason, I seek it.

     All of us are inundated with noise, both externally and internally.  Even our attempts at silent prayer can be filled at least initially, with chatter that comes out of us into the space of silence.  I have as a regular practice taken time for silent or centering prayer.  It is one way that I have found to be able to answer this need for silence.

     It takes consistency and patience and for me it began in small increments of time.  Ever so slowly my time of silence would increase.  Yes the chatter within me came at the beginning and even now it can briefly chime in.  It requires of me a letting go of self and an intention to pay attention to what God might bring.

What are the ways that you get above the din?  How do you find silence?