I’ve asked the question, “Which comes easier for you-silence or stillness?” I think it’s important to distinguish the subtle but significant difference.
Few realize secret of bathing our souls in silence. It was a secret our Lord Jesus Christ knew very well. There were times when He had to send the multitudes away so He could retire alone into the silence of the mountainside. There He would turn the God-ward side of His soul toward heaven and for a long time expose Himself to the face of His Father in heaven.
—A.W. Tozer (Men Who Met God, p. 103)
One can experience silence without stillness. I know some would disagree, but if I pace my living room in silent prayer it’s awfully quiet and I can find the silent place in my soul without being perfectly still. And I can sit perfectly still but have my mind clanging with a thousand to-do’s and wonderments.
I need to be more intentional about “bathing my soul in silence” -whether or not my body is moving and experience the healing, restoration, and presence that comes with it.
Father, help me to embrace silence as friend and not foe. Amen.
