Quiet time

Many people find strength from the daily meditative pause -- a quiet time on the back porch with a cup of coffee, an early morning walk, an evening exercise regimen. Often Christians reflect on words of scripture and offer prayers to God in regular quiet time. Evidently, though, the benefits of a quiet time are recognized not only by people of faith, but also by the secular businessperson, scientist, teacher. They, too, see value in the capacity to sort through daily responsibilities, to gather oneself in terms of establishing priorities, to formulate plans in the relative serenity of quiet time.

There's another kind of quiet time that can be powerful, too. It's when, in the course of an important conversation with someone, we allow the silence to fill in the gaps. There's a tendency to be rather frenetic in conversations these days. We are a little conditioned by the twitter phenomenon to keep it short and to the point. That certainly has its place. But there are times when deeper communication is needed between persons. And quiet time helps in such situations. There is usually a spiritual dimension to such serious talk. In my experience, sometimes people hear the leading of God's Spirit in the quiet moments of a conversation. Rather than rushing on to think about what we're going to say next, maybe we would do well to listen for what God may be saying in the quiet times of the visit.