Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Silence Can Be Golden

I spent the entire day yesterday catching up from the weekend. I don't know about your home, but mine tends to take on a life of it's own on Saturday and Sunday. I try to keep it straightened so that come Monday morning I'm not wondering when the bomb went off and why I'm still around to take in the aftermath, but it just seems that I cannot get ahead of the fallout.

All day long I found this thought going around and around in my head, "You need to post something on your blog. You haven't posted anything since Friday. You didn't even post a Worship Him for Sunday!!!" How I prayed and prayed, asking God was there something that He wanted me to do and the answer I got...silence.

In times past, I thought that silence from God meant one of a few things: He was upset with me, I had sin in my life or I was so far gone I couldn't even hear God anymore. Can you believe the bondage satan had me in????

Thankfully, though, I'm learning that silence from God isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Have you ever noticed that when you are really trying to focus in on something you need total silence? When there is an important weather report interrupting our favorite program I want it silent so I don't miss a word the weatherman says. When we are traveling and we enter a busy city that we've never been in before, DH wants total silence in the car so he can clearly hear the directions I'm giving him.

If we get a phone call from someone we haven't talked to in a long time, we want it silent so we can clearly hear the other person because it's important we don't miss a word.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

Still reflecting on 2009, I see that in many areas, satan kept me so busy that hearing God was an impossibility. Slowing down to enjoy the blessings He gave could not happen. I've seen my busy, crazy lifestyle has had a negative effect on my teens and this bothers me.

When I think back to the time I was 17 and 19 (the ages they are now) I don't remember my life being so nuts!! Seems they are always stressed about something, there is always drama about something and they don't have a minute to spare at all!! I've been a stay at home mom who homeschooled her kids and somehow I failed to show them that running at full speed 24/7 will eventually take a toll.

So....I'm having little chats with them as God allows. Sharing what I'm learning about slowing down and saying "no" when people ask me to do things that I haven't had the time to run by God first to get His approval. I'm pointing out, in love, that their phones are always attached to them and they can't even go to the bathroom without them! (seriously...they take their phones to the bathroom). I'm trying to show them, by example, that it's not healthy to fill up every moment of their lives with something to do.

I didn't stress because I ran out of homemade laundry soap. Instead I pulled the store bought stuff out that I have in reserve for just such an emergency.

Even Jesus got away to pray and rest.

So......I never did do a post for yesterday. God never gave me anything specific He wanted me to share. I ended up making a loaf of fresh bread, helping DS with some Economics and cooking lunch with him, mopping the bathroom and catching up on laundry.

Yes, sometimes silence is golden...even when it's from God.

2 comments:

Beth Herring said...

I have found many times in my spiritual walk that God speaks the loudest in His silence.

Many sweet blessings,
Beth

Cheesemakin' Mamma said...

I love this post. It is the same thing I've been struggling with. We've been gone, and then in the middle of a remodel. I'm just giving myself a break and only commenting on blogs that have commented on mine. It seems to be working because I'm getting a lot more done, Praise God! I, too grew up with parents that felt and taught us that every minute of our lives had to be filled with something to do. I'm trying so hard to pull back from that way of thinking, but it is really difficult. Hopefully this year, I'll get into some new habits. Here's prayin'! God Bless you this New Year!