I got on the wrong UIC campus bus yesterday. I'm afraid this is not an unusual occurrence for me and a quick 10 minute ride from one side of the campus to the other became a circuitous 30 minutes in places I'd not seen before.
It was an off time of day with few students on the bus. The few riders we picked up were not inclined to talk, which was lovely because what can be said to another student or over a cell in a public place these days is a matter for a different post! They sat quietly waiting for their stop.
I sat quietly too, for the most part as the only passenger, enjoying the moments of stillness in an otherwise hectic week. As I watched the people outside, listening to the creaking of the bus, I realized that ear buds were a universal appendage. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against music and pod casts; I just realized that I love the sound of quiet.
Why do I listen; what is it I hope to hear in the quiet? What is it that escapes my knowing in the noisiness of life? It is the secret of "the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight ". 1Peter 3:4
It was an off time of day with few students on the bus. The few riders we picked up were not inclined to talk, which was lovely because what can be said to another student or over a cell in a public place these days is a matter for a different post! They sat quietly waiting for their stop.
I sat quietly too, for the most part as the only passenger, enjoying the moments of stillness in an otherwise hectic week. As I watched the people outside, listening to the creaking of the bus, I realized that ear buds were a universal appendage. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against music and pod casts; I just realized that I love the sound of quiet.
Why do I listen; what is it I hope to hear in the quiet? What is it that escapes my knowing in the noisiness of life? It is the secret of "the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight ". 1Peter 3:4
10 comments:
Do you ever wear ear plugs? I love the extra quiet they provide. Sometimes I use them when I'm studying. Otherwise, the ambient noise can be distracting to me.
Actually, having to filter out some ambient noise tends to help me concentrate better - well, unless it's directed towards me!
Quiet sounds so good. Where we live, right next to the Baltimore Beltway, there's a constant river of noise. I have become used to it for the most part; my wife hasn't.
When we went away to the Eastern shore, and sat in a boat adrift way out in the river with no one in sight, and the Sun setting, the silence actually gave me goosebumps.
Another insightful post Susan. thanks for sharing.
Have a joyful Lord's Day.
Have a wonderful Sunday yourself, Don!
"Silence is the language in which God speaks. Everything else is a poor translation".
Quietness and solitude is a spiritual activity not appreciated in our connected Web 2.0 world...but how we need it.
Amen to both your comments, ESI and Llama!
Interesting. And in how you end it.
I'm not much for nothing but quiet. Even if no noise I'm generally reading, thinking, or praying, or maybe even singing to myself. But I ought to plug into complete silence more as well.
Maybe it's all about what we are seeking to hear. To listen. To pick up God's voice. With the attitude of "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening."
Actually I have a lot of silence in the dulling hum of factory noise, so that I'm left with my thoughts and with an open Bible before me, as I keep at the work before me. So I'll have to think more on this-with prayer of course.
Your comment brought such a visual to mind Ted - of me trying to work with an open Bible around. I'm afraid that I'm so absent minded to start with that I'd quite forget one or the other. So, that is lovely if you can do both!!
Thanks, Susan.
I'm sure you could, with the mind-numbing kind of work I do. And that I couldn't, with the kind of work you do.
I just need to meditate on God's word, taking one verse at a time, or phrase at a time. I try to keep that up on weekends, but with not as much success (so far).
But I do need more quiet, for sure, though there is much more of that now than in years past.
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