I'm breaking the Silence.
The Lenten Season represents many things to many people. For me, it is a concentrated time of focus on Jesus and His focus on me...which becomes a very spiritually revealing season. Every day during this holy season offers revelatory moments, offering insights into the heart of Jesus as well as His revelation of what is in my own heart. He sees me, and as the days go by, I become more acutely aware of Him and just how deeply He knows and understands my heart. I have come to realize (and am reminded again and again) that His deep knowledge of my inner workings far exceeds my own. For, as scripture says, "even when our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart."
It is humbling.
And, occasionally, it's a little scary.
To be truly known and understood is a challenging space in which to live. We all say we want it. We cry out for it in our relationships and endeavors.
But to actually live, and move, and have our being within the space where we are perfectly known and understood by the Living God in all His holiness and glory is...uncomfortable. Lent is a time of essential discomfort if we are to emulate in some tiny way the Passion of our Lord.
I've learned that the Holy Spirit is ready (and more than willing) to engage me if only I would stop, turn my full attention to Him, and enjoy being with Him. Thus, for Lent, I choose silence. Silence provides space to focus on Jesus every day.
And silence is difficult. And it is incredibly revelatory.
If you are challenged by spending time with Jesus in silence, allow me to share a few things that I've learned that may help you move through this holy season with this new skill.
1. Your mind, spirit, and possibly your body, are all trained for technology whether that be TV, phone, social media, or your car radio. Turn them off.
Wow. What was that feeling you just had? Horror? Fear? A little panic? There it is. The addiction side of technology. That sense of need it creates, the dependency. You just need a little "hit" to keep yourself on an even keel, reassure yourself that you are known, wanted, needed, and connected.
So just let me say it right here, right now--If you choose, even for a little while, to turn OFF your technology, YES, you will be cut off from the world. You will be ALONE. You will have no one to interact with except--gasp--Jesus. And he is waiting for you.
You will notice during the first days of your journey in silence that your craving to be fed by technology is stronger than you thought. For me, it is the time I sit to eat. Being single, my main time of relaxation is sitting in front of the TV as I eat. During Lent, I have given up TV. I sit in silence, listening. To what?
You might be surprised at what you hear when there's nothing to compete with nature outside your door, or the beating of your own heart, or the other voices inside your head. You will immediately begin to have an awareness of all the "noise" driving your thoughts, emotions, and spirit during the day, noise that many times drowns out the "still, small Voice" of the Spirit. Silence gives you back the ability to quiet the noise and truly attend to the Voice of the Lover of your Soul. And it is amazing.
2. Living in silence reveals places of exhaustion. I do not say this lightly. Where are you exhausted in your life? In what way does the noise keep you from stopping to look at your fatigue and seeing it for what it is, a burden?
Silence speaks softly to us saying, "look here...what is that you're feeling? What is that feeling you are constantly pushing through? What is that feeling you keep trying to numb so you don't have to acknowledge the pain?" This acute self-awareness can be hard to face.
Silence in God's sweet presence creates a safe space for you to feel it, acknowledge it, and open that tender place to the Holy Spirit's touch. When there's no Facebook or Twitter to check, when there's no TV to distract, silence allows your heart to say, "I am tired" and then, to turn off the light and go to sleep in God's Presence. And sleep is healing.
Lent is valuable to me because the combination of God's sweet Presence with sleep and silence is healing. I reflect on Jesus' loneliness and His time in the wilderness, His need for prayer well into the night and his need to sleep on a boat. I feel His exhaustion as he weeps over Jerusalem and over Lazarus, and his determination to love me with His life before I ever knew Him. I travel with Him as he journeys toward His cross...and as I journey towards mine during this holy season.
As the clutter of voices and the noise of the world diminishes in my head during these sacred days, I become more acutely aware of God's Presence with me at every moment and His loving attention and care for me, and I begin to swim in that knowledge, able to "go with the flow" of His revelation from moment to moment. In silence, the Lamb of God once again becomes Emmanuel, God with us.
What are your thoughts? I would love to know about your experience with laying down certain things at Lent. What challenges are you facing during this Holy Season?
Coram Deo,
Tess
The Lenten Season represents many things to many people. For me, it is a concentrated time of focus on Jesus and His focus on me...which becomes a very spiritually revealing season. Every day during this holy season offers revelatory moments, offering insights into the heart of Jesus as well as His revelation of what is in my own heart. He sees me, and as the days go by, I become more acutely aware of Him and just how deeply He knows and understands my heart. I have come to realize (and am reminded again and again) that His deep knowledge of my inner workings far exceeds my own. For, as scripture says, "even when our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart."
It is humbling.
And, occasionally, it's a little scary.
To be truly known and understood is a challenging space in which to live. We all say we want it. We cry out for it in our relationships and endeavors.
But to actually live, and move, and have our being within the space where we are perfectly known and understood by the Living God in all His holiness and glory is...uncomfortable. Lent is a time of essential discomfort if we are to emulate in some tiny way the Passion of our Lord.
I've learned that the Holy Spirit is ready (and more than willing) to engage me if only I would stop, turn my full attention to Him, and enjoy being with Him. Thus, for Lent, I choose silence. Silence provides space to focus on Jesus every day.
And silence is difficult. And it is incredibly revelatory.
If you are challenged by spending time with Jesus in silence, allow me to share a few things that I've learned that may help you move through this holy season with this new skill.
1. Your mind, spirit, and possibly your body, are all trained for technology whether that be TV, phone, social media, or your car radio. Turn them off.
Wow. What was that feeling you just had? Horror? Fear? A little panic? There it is. The addiction side of technology. That sense of need it creates, the dependency. You just need a little "hit" to keep yourself on an even keel, reassure yourself that you are known, wanted, needed, and connected.
So just let me say it right here, right now--If you choose, even for a little while, to turn OFF your technology, YES, you will be cut off from the world. You will be ALONE. You will have no one to interact with except--gasp--Jesus. And he is waiting for you.
You will notice during the first days of your journey in silence that your craving to be fed by technology is stronger than you thought. For me, it is the time I sit to eat. Being single, my main time of relaxation is sitting in front of the TV as I eat. During Lent, I have given up TV. I sit in silence, listening. To what?
You might be surprised at what you hear when there's nothing to compete with nature outside your door, or the beating of your own heart, or the other voices inside your head. You will immediately begin to have an awareness of all the "noise" driving your thoughts, emotions, and spirit during the day, noise that many times drowns out the "still, small Voice" of the Spirit. Silence gives you back the ability to quiet the noise and truly attend to the Voice of the Lover of your Soul. And it is amazing.
2. Living in silence reveals places of exhaustion. I do not say this lightly. Where are you exhausted in your life? In what way does the noise keep you from stopping to look at your fatigue and seeing it for what it is, a burden?
Silence speaks softly to us saying, "look here...what is that you're feeling? What is that feeling you are constantly pushing through? What is that feeling you keep trying to numb so you don't have to acknowledge the pain?" This acute self-awareness can be hard to face.
Silence in God's sweet presence creates a safe space for you to feel it, acknowledge it, and open that tender place to the Holy Spirit's touch. When there's no Facebook or Twitter to check, when there's no TV to distract, silence allows your heart to say, "I am tired" and then, to turn off the light and go to sleep in God's Presence. And sleep is healing.
Lent is valuable to me because the combination of God's sweet Presence with sleep and silence is healing. I reflect on Jesus' loneliness and His time in the wilderness, His need for prayer well into the night and his need to sleep on a boat. I feel His exhaustion as he weeps over Jerusalem and over Lazarus, and his determination to love me with His life before I ever knew Him. I travel with Him as he journeys toward His cross...and as I journey towards mine during this holy season.
As the clutter of voices and the noise of the world diminishes in my head during these sacred days, I become more acutely aware of God's Presence with me at every moment and His loving attention and care for me, and I begin to swim in that knowledge, able to "go with the flow" of His revelation from moment to moment. In silence, the Lamb of God once again becomes Emmanuel, God with us.
What are your thoughts? I would love to know about your experience with laying down certain things at Lent. What challenges are you facing during this Holy Season?
Coram Deo,
Tess
