Silence

 silence 

can be golden

or guilting

silence

can defend

or defeat

silence

can be private

or public

it's all in the hearing

(rlg, 5-11-2020)

I continue the discipline of writing ten line compositions
almost every day since the beginning of Lent..

At first it was just a way to create during the Lenten season.

Now it has become an almost necessary form

of personal expression.

My inspiration often comes the night before via a scene, experience,

something read, or something heard.

The fire pictured above happened on Mother's Day morning.

The air was conducive to silent fireside contemplation.

The cattle grazing were seen on one of our drives through our rural countryside.

Silence for me is almost always golden...

Taking Stock

Here it is!  Mid-March already...

I heard birds singing as I washed my face and brushed my teeth 

at my upstair's bathroom sink this morning.

Winter is passing. Quicker this year than last, it seems to me.

Why my thoughts wandered to June and our upcoming retreat

 to The Abbey of Gethsemani, I don't know.

But they did. 

Wistfully, I opened its web page and caught up with a few of the monthly happenings

there since the first of the year.

January found the monks themselves retreating.

Somehow, this brought me comfort 

and heightened my expectations and yearnings for my own retreat!

Marked by silence and simplicity, this was a summary of the retreat:
On the individual level, monks were encourage to discern
what they needed from this time of extra quiet and solitude.
For some, that may indeed have meant some rest.  
For others, it was a chance to simplify.
"For all, it is a time of taking stock," Dom Elias said.
...Sigh...
Today, in a smaller way, I too will seek to be silent.
To be simple and
to take stock.

My Gethsemani

"My" desk - postcards, scissors, journal, tape, Bible, hand lotion...

View from "my" window

Hanging above "my" bed

Some serious reading pleasure

Living this Dilemma

 

Borrowed.  Out-of-season.  But finished...

...do you sometimes feel it’s easier to write than to speak? I’ve always been like that, words can stop before they come out. I can think one thing, and suddenly when I try to say it out loud, it turns into something different. Not for me, but for the listener, who could be anyone I talk to really. And I guess it’s not just the listener who is a bad listener, but I can be a bad teller.
 
I’m not that good with words, I don’t trust I will be understood, and that alone can stop them before they get the chance to be spoken. Other times I have way too many words that probably shouldn’t been spoken… Anyone recognize this dilemma?  (Maren, here)

Dear Maren.  

Do I "RECOGNIZE" this dilemma?!?

I LIVE this dilemma!

A truly wise person uses few words;

a person with understanding is even-tempered.  Proverbs 17:27

 If you are silent, be silent out of love. If you speak, speak out of love. (Augustine)

Sweet, Sweet Silence

I shared the silence with this man as
we spent the past week at the Abbey of Gethsemani - Kentucky.

 Near perfect weather,

  

beautiful scenery,

simple and healthy meals,

 trails to walk,

 hills to climb,

books to read and quiet places to read them,

Prayers and the Psalms.
Solitude and Silence.
Sweet, sweet silence.

Scarred but Still Standing

"It's been struck by lightening," my husband pointed out to me.

The tree was one of only a few mature trees still standing in the nature preserve

where we walked trails yesterday.
 Scarred but still standing.

And silent.

It was one of several lessons I carried home with me

from the nonverbal instruction of creation. 

"I am not unlike that tree," I muse.  "Scarred but still standing."

........

Now, to be silent...

...as silent as was this wetland
whose stillness penetrated deep into my soul.

Lake Days

 It doesn't get much better than spending a couple of days at the lake

 with good friends,

 good food,

 leisurely walks,

 unscheduled time,

 silence except for cicada songs,

thoughtful conversations, board games, sleeping on the sunporch
and watching a storm blow in and cross the water.

The Ultimate Conservation

From Streams in the Desert, Volume 2, July 9: "Quietness is not only the opposite of noise.  It is the absence of excitement, haste, and consequent confusion.  These dissipate strength, while calmness and deliberateness conserve it..."

Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)

The older I get, the less excitement I need in my life...the more I rue haste...the less confusion I can tolerate.  I crave calmness and deliberateness and admire those who are exhibiting it.  The more I think about Jesus, the more I find these qualities in Him...the more I want HIS life to overshadow my own.

The Power of a Scripture (or Two)

This morning, my husband read these words to me out of our devotional book:  "Remember this:  It's the Word that does the work, not the one holding onto it."  I needed this!  I knew that God's Word is like a sharp sword...powerful and effective, but sometimes I act as though victory depends on MY strength rather than the power of God's Word. 

Signs like this advocating silence on the Abbey of Gethsemani property ensured that the atmosphere would be conducive to prayer and meditation.  Even on dining room tables there were signs saying, "Silence Spoken Here".  In that silence, I read--books and the Bible.  My journal contains several  specific Bible verses through which God "spoke" to me in the silence.  Here are a few.

Numbers 24:13 "What the Lord speaks, that will I speak."  (This in relationship to an upcoming speaking appointment I have.)

Numbers 33:55  "But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell."  (This is respect to a few lazy habits I have.)

Deuteronomy 1:6-8  "You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey and go to the hill country....Go in and take possession of the land."  (Turn being the word that was significant to me.)

Deuteronomy 4:7  "For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us...?"  (God is near!)

Psalm 111:10  "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding."  (Practicing the fear of the Lord brings understanding.)

Oh, dear!  I  realize it would be too long a post to recopy all the Scriptures I copied into my journal.  But I'm challenged to keep this Word in my mind and on my lips.  No matter what the world, my flesh or the devil tries to tell me, I will reply with what "is written".  I will let the Word fight its own fight.