Five Minute Friday: Silence (#FMF)
A pregnant pause.
A companionable silence.
An awkward pause.
The sound of silence.
Silence –
It can be deafening
It can be rich
Or a source of strength
Or a drain of energy
Some crave it
Others run from it
I love a good block of silence in my days. When Mondays come around, I’m delighted to be in my sunny study, writing or answering emails, or pondering. The quiet gives me time to process all that’s going on in my heart and in my head, for my thoughts seem to swirl around and around. I need time alone to catch some of those thoughts and process them. To get them down on paper and to make sense of them before God. To seek his inspiration, help, comfort, and love.
Over the summer, I worked on my dissertation for my master’s in Christian spirituality. I had three weeks in our home basically on my own – first the kids were at camps and my husband was on retreat, and then my husband took them on holiday. During the weekends we’d reconvene, all together in the vicarage, with the noise and hum of daily life once again appearing. And then they’d leave, and I’d be alone.
Me in my sunny, silent study. A happy place – usually.
The first week I relished the silence, thrilled to be able to work uninterrupted as I slogged forth in laying down a first draft.
The second week I made sure I left the house a few times, set up a few video chats with friends, and was glad that my husband was home for a few of the days.
The third week I cried, feeling sorry for myself as I knew I had not only the excruciating work of rewriting my draft, but had to live in what now felt like crushing silence.
I made it through the summer alone. I know now that although in my daily life I yearn for slices of silence, I too need times with others.
How about you? What does silence mean to you?
This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up. You can find today’s prompt here.
Hello! 
Hi Amy! Thanks for sharing these thoughts on silence. I find the same thing- I’m happy for the first bit of silence, but the longer it goes on the more difficult it is to cope with the loss of that bustling life that family can bring. I’m so thankful that God gives us people to surround ourselves with and cut through that kind of deafening silence that draws us to relationship with Him and others.
I like your image of deafening silence and how God cuts through that… Good to meet you today!
A masters’ in Christian Spirituality…I hope you’ll share more about that.
Silence, to me, was ever a combat indicator. When the natural or cultural sounds would cease, something dreadful was coming.
And there I stood, in its path.
#1 at FMF this week.
https://blessed-are-the-pure-of-heart.blogspot.com/2017/11/your-dying-spouse-403-end-of-despair-fmf.html
Silence – a combat indicator. I’ll have to read your post!
Ah, yes, my MA – I’ll need to blog about it. So many riches to mine. I wrote my dissertation on Calvin and his view of being ‘partakers of the divine nature’. I wanted to see some mystical strains in him, but concluded I couldn’t – but he holds strongly to the Bible in his view of participating with God. Off to read your #1 post!
Hi Amy – wow, your post is fascinating in so many ways. It really gives a glimpse into your life and studies; the master’s degree sounds very interesting. I agree too about needing silence balanced with time with other people. I guess we are wired that way by God, but at certain seasons of life we seem to have too much of one or the other. It can be hard to find the perfect rhythm.
Really glad to connect with you here at FMF; thanks for visiting my blog too.
I love this, Amy. Yes, I long for silence but I’m sure the reality of three weeks alone (which sounds blissful at this stage) would feel different in reality. Learning to find those moments of intentionality.