Silence

    Today, my friend Natalie and I had a picnic together. We laughed, talked, goofed off, all of the normal things that teenagers do whilst hanging out with their friends. We also, contrary to the way teenagers and young people usually operate, simply lay there under our canopy of trees, saying nothing, and just enjoyed one another's company.
    This rarity of silence got me to thinking (when you're silent, there's a lot of time to think!). I started to think that elderly married couples have it right: Sometimes, there's no need to talk. Sometimes, there's nothing to say.
    Don't get me wrong! If you get me in the right mood, I will talk your ear off! I am often the one staying up until 4 o'clock in the morning talking to my best friends about whatever is going on in my life.  Sometimes, conversation is the only way to share your joys and troubles with one another.  Sometimes, conversation with one another is a wonderful way to bond with your companions. Sometimes, conversation is just fun, and is a great way to pass the time!
    But, on the flipside, abstaining from conversation can help you to enjoy the company of the people you love in a pure way. There are things that can be said in silence and glances and expressions that could never be said in words. Filling every quiet time in fear of "making it awkward" (in Natalie's words: What's the point of awkward? In my camp counselor's words: It's only awkward if you think it's awkward) can be detrimental in that you miss out from having meaningful, thoughtful conversation. If you're always struggling to say SOMETHING all of the time, you don't get to the real point of the conversation-you skirt around it with whatever comes to your mind to say first.
    Okay, Sarah, so now we know that silence when with other people can help you out. What now?
    Silence in the mind is something much harder to achieve than refraining from speaking. Have you ever just sat there and tried to calm all of the NOISE inside of you? For me, usually my brain is like traffic in Manhatten: thoughts like honks of horns, thoughts like the rhythmic stepping of feet, thoughts like harried conversation on your way to work, thoughts like the Subway rumbling on it's way, thoughts and thoughts and thoughts just bouncing around inside my head. To just STOP THINKING all of that STUFF is something that I have yet to master. However, in rare moments of pure, unspoiled silence, God speaks to me in a voice much too quiet for words. When I make a point to truly "Be still and know that He is God", I know exactly what God has been trying to tell me, deep in my bones. And THAT communication, through silence, as Natalie and I experienced on our picnic blanket as the world spun around us, has been one of the greatest gifts that I have had the pleasure to discover.