The Silent Space

There is something about Silence. Something peaceful. Something mystical. Something uncomfortable. Something fearful. Something beautiful.

It is Spacious. Full. Empty. Barren. Wonderful. Frightful. Real. A Gaping Hole giving us the priceless opportunity to fill it with Complete Fear or Complete Courage. It can be on the other end of the phone after a question. It can be an empty house that reminds us of our alone-ness. It can be the peaceful wonderful quiet after the storm. Maybe the end of Chaos. Maybe the beginning of a New Day. Those few seconds in the morning after turning off our alarm. Those few minutes at night before drifting off to sleep.

Silence. It is not just the absence of sound. It is the filling of space. It is the question of what you fill it with. It is what you hear when you hear nothing at all. What is it? That you hear?

I went running tonight on the beach. Barefoot. One of my favorite things to do in the world. Sunset......Passing Passer-Byes. Some were alone in their Silence. Walking possibly to "clear their heads." Some were hand in hand with their lover. Maybe mumbling. Maybe laughing. Maybe not. All were....Walking. None were......Still. None. I ran and ran and ran. Soaking in the Silence of the Waves. Watching the Life of the Sun surrender to the Calm of the Moon. As it became darker - as it became calmer - as it became silent.

I wonder - is life not so different? We walk and we journey and we run and we search for those things to fill our Space - our Silence. Why? Because often sitting with it - in it - surrounded by it....is too much to bear. It is the place we come to where we are alone with our thoughts, the sounds of reality - to be or not to be. Our thoughts can be our best friends or our worst enemies.....all dependent upon the Source. I have found that it is one of the most Beautiful places to find and to sit and to refuse - to - move - from: STILLNESS. The time of deepest change. The place of greatest revelation.

Silence. That place we all come to late at night - when the house is empty - when the Space is Great and the Quiet is ferociously Loud and

We
Hear
It

Nothing......... Haivng the choice to either fill the space with one of two things. Really. Cutting it all down.

Him or Us.

It is the place we all come to at some point in our lives when we look deep within the mirror and ask ourselves:

Who Are You? Do You Like What You See? Where Are You Going?

Maybe faced with a decision. Maybe many. And we peer deep into our own eyes into life's mirror. Making a choice - do we look away? Do we grab the Paint of Pretending lying beside of us on the counter to hide. to cover. again? Or do we stand there in our rawness and in our realness and be brave. Be Brave. It takes that. Courage.

Courage to face the reality of ourselves in the mirror. Courage to pick up the phone and make that call. Courage to ask forgiveness to forgive to change to reach out. Asking ourselves those questions....Fearing the answers. Looking deep within, often wanting to look away. We do one of two things:

Fill the Space with our Selves or His Spirit.

Sounds a bit strange to cut it down so shallowly. But there is nothing Shallow about it. We can run or we can hide or we can stand. Running entails escaping. Moving. Walking. Running......much like a jog on the beach. Movement is the greatest escape from Reality. Hiding involves Cowering. Eden's Hedge. Leaves can Cover but they cannot hide. Don't look AT me as you might see THROUGH me. And then there is the choice to Stand. Standing. Sitting. Being. STILL.

Refusing to move, refusing to run, refusing to hide. Committing to Stay.....In.....The....Space. In.......The......Silence....and:

LISTEN.

I have found that it is in that Space that Magical things can happen. It is in that Space that the Wisdom of God shouts the loudest. It is in that space that Courage is nurtured and Change is discovered. It is when we look in the mirror, past our eyes, In. To. His. that answers are found. They may not be pretty or proper or neat or tidy. They will likely be messy and sticky and hard. But The Will Be Real.

Look Deeply. What do you see? Hope. Newness. Discovery.

Touch Softly. What do you feel? Relief. Breath. Calm.

Listen Loudly. What do you hear? Love. Faith................. Crashing Waves.

I am back now. Sand covering my feet. Sweat covering my clothes. Salt covering by skin. Stillness covering my soul.

Silence Covering My Spirit - and He is there. My God. My Faith. My Hope. My Love. Respectfully accepting my invitation to peer back at me in my own mirror. Welcoming my questions. Sitting with me in my Space. That Space that so quickly changes from a place of Fear to place of Anticipation and Discovery......all because of one thing.

The One I invite to Sit With Me.

He......

".... leadeth me, O blessed thought.
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught
Whate’er I do, where’er I be
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful foll’wer I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes ’mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, o’er troubled sea,
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.

Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.

And when my task on earth is done,
When by Thy grace the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me."

Drifting to sleep to the sound of Your Silence and to the Waves of your mighty ocean......

I am -

Yours, b