“How has your summer been?” she asked.  The question on everyone’s lips this week after Labor Day.  I told her about the great time I had on a 30-day silent retreat.  “Wait, you were silent – for how long?”  30 days.  She shook her head with a “better you then me, sister” smile.

This happens all the time.  My friends freeze at the concept of spiritual silence – as though it were punitive rather than invitational.

“So, if someone sneezes, you can’t say ‘God bless you’?” another friend asked.  Actually I did sneeze, and a fellow retreatant did say God bless you, and I smiled thank you with my eyes.  “You’d be amazed how much can be communicated in the eyes,” I tried to explain.

As I descended into silence on retreat, as conversation and chatting and texting ceased, I experienced a deep invitation to listen.  Without the clutter of spoken words at meals, in hallways, on cell phones, I began to hear the sounds of creation.  I listened to my deepest self.  I listened to God. I learned that God has much wisdom to share.  I discerned that divine love whispers encouragement consistently.  I discerned which quiet voice was God’s and which inner words were not from God.

Still, my friends seem stymied by this silence thing.  Perhaps it’s because talking is easier than listening in our culture.  There are few places for silence.  We turn on the TV during dinner, turn on the radio in the car, chat on cell phones while waiting at the airport, anything to keep busy and distracted, so that boredom is held at bay.

But the world needs silence because silence invites listening.  If we cultivate a greater comfort with our own silence, we listen more attentively to God, and we will listen more effectively to those in need of being heard.  Cultivating silence requires courage – we must face down our own demons, meet our deepest selves, and surrender to God.  At least that is some of what I experienced in 30 days.

But let’s start with a small step just for today.  Can you find 20 minutes to be silent?  Walk in the woods.  Sit quietly by yourself.  Close your eyes and meditate.  Just 20 minutes.  Don’t judge yourself harshly, don’t think about your work, don’t try too hard.  Just choose silence for 20 minutes and listen for the source of love.  Gently, softly, tenderly, shhh…

Let me know how it goes!