Ecclesiastes 3: A Time for Everything
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven …
7…a time to be silent and a time to speak.
My mouth was doing a mile a minute. It was sprinting ’cause time was short, my baby was whining, and I thought the empty space of silence in our Bible studying needed filling up. On auto pilot I felt it in my periphery – the stop sign: urgent warning to zip it or miss something. Something that was too cautious to try and outrun my sentences. Several paragraphs later I tried to gracefully putter to a stop.
But she was already looking down. She had retreated behind her worried brown eyes. Suddenly it was my heart that was racing chasing with the realization that all my heedless chatter might have cost the group a moment of truth. I tried to back pedal. And stumbled into graceless silence.
I have spent time at her house, cheered on World Cup teams together, watched her kids in the nursery at church and let my mouth ramble on and on into those “making conversation” moments. Today I realized she had more than polite conversation to share. And I finally shut up and listened.
Her sharing shamed my long stream of words.
Her story was raw and beautiful and made nonsense of all I thought I knew about her. The more she talked, softly, but with big courage, the further the goose flesh spread on my body. I listened. I couldn’t help but listen with my whole face and my salty eyes. I heard who she was when I was finally quiet. And was overwhelmed with regret at how much I had missed.
How much I might still have missed if I hadn’t felt someone yanking at the breaks.
But He did and I’m glad. Because when I was finally quiet He up and spoke volumes through her words and into that room today. Right there between the plastic zoo animals, the baby activity station, and the spinach dip I’d been eating five minutes before. I discovered living proof of all I claim to believe.
And I almost hadn’t let it get a word in.
I am not so good with silence. I want to fill it up instead of rest in it and learn from it. God continues to work on this with me. I need to work on being a better listener FOR others and TO Him!
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this post….I was at PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) tonight, and for once, I was not trying to fill every moment with conversation…I was mostly silent, and taking it all in…in that time He spoke to me, and let me know through others that I was meant to be there, I’m meant to be a large part of our PWOC…I found my purpose…
Prayers!!
Amy
I led my first Women’s small group Bible study several years ago – and I was so uncomfortable with that silence…and like you wanted to fill it up! Thank goodness for the HS pulling on those reins! whoa girl! :) Glad you were so blessed and encouraged.
What a great point. I needed this little reminder today, too. But I’m finding that often I can learn a lot more by keeping quiet than by making noise.
So well timed…again! I recently felt the overwhelming knowledge that what the world needs is a bit less of My opinions and a bit more of God shining through. Zipping My big lips is crucial. *blessings on your summer day*
Lib
Thank you. I too, needed this today. Very much.
Blessings,
Teena
So much about being a Jesus-child requires sitting at His feet and hushing up.
I need to do that every day.
Because my Lord is such a gentleman with soft love whispers to me.
In quietness of heart is where I lean near to hear.
<3
What a beautiful and honest post. Thank you.
I love your extrovertedness… sometimes it gets quiet up in my brain … toooo quiet :)
though, God has taken me through seasons where He has reminded me of the importance of silence… He brought me back to this scripture:
Job 13:5 “If only you would be alltogether silent. For you, that would be wisdom.”
This is something we all struggle with. The “being still “. I have noticed that complete strangers come up to talk to me; much to my consternation as I am fairly shy & not particularly charismatic (unless they sense something different about me – God). But then, God uses me to brighten their day, lighten their burden, or just let them know someone will listen. Blesses us both!!
Great post.
Great reminder!
Whew! That was a close one–I wonder how many times I have been filling the quiet and applied the brakes to my chatter too late?
A great post. Quieten the mind xx
This one is like an arrow through the heart. I have done the same thing so many times. Just the other day I prayed and asked the Father to put a guard on my tongue as we drove to visit family. I am forever interrupting and missing the whole thought someone was trying to convey. Or I jabber on trying to fill any little silence, lest we all feel uncomfortable.
I am going to ask the Lord daily for help with this. I love what you had to say.
Great post. Too many times I’ve talked when it’s the last thing I should have done and not listened when it was the only thing I should have done. Thanks for sharing your need to zip the lip like the rest of us.
Having the grace to just… listen. So important, and so lacking. Especially in me.
SIGH.
Must quiet my lips, my heart. And simply listen.
Oh this is good! /thank you for sharing this so eloquently. Cute photo too. :) love that little plane zipper pull. Kelly
Amen and thank you!