[Written by William Monroe]
Quiet.
It’s a rare commodity these days. It seems like everything about our lives is not only busy, but noisy. Often, our schedules are just as cluttered as our minds (and that room we let none of our guests see!).
Quiet.
Quiet is important. Jesus often sought out desolate, quiet places to rest and to pray.
Mark 6:30
The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”
Matthew 14:23
And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone…
Mark 1:35
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
When you need rest, do you search for quiet? Do you seek space and time to pray?
Let me be honest first. I don’t.
I don’t look for quiet when I am overwhelmed, emotionally or physically. I try to fill up that mental space with noise, whether it be music, activity, social media, TV shows, almost anything.
The most quiet moment I have is every now and then when I force myself to not turn on the radio in the car. When I do this, it takes about 20 minutes of driving in silence for my brain to stop running in circles and for me to start to enjoy the rest that comes with the quiet.
Quiet doesn’t mean blank or boring. It means having space for intentionally directing my brain and heart. It sometimes means having time and space to pray. Sometimes it’s the space I need to be creative. It’s always a time to reset, and always a place to begin.
Quiet.
