He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ - 1 Kings 19:11-13
In Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Sherlock Holmes, Holmes comments to his assistant investigator, “You have a grand gift for silence, Watson. It makes you quite invaluable as a companion.”
There is some humour in the comment, but there is also tremendous value. Silence is the thing that gives room for reflection – room for the unveiling of truth. Being comfortable with silence might just be the first step in having a true conversation with others. But silence can be difficult, too. We have a way of needing to fill silence - to put some sound into the emptiness. I heard recently of a parent who discovered her own need to fill that space. She would, for example, ask her child what he wanted for lunch. But before he had a chance to reflect and answer, she would continue: “Do you want a peanut butter sandwich?” “Do you want some chicken fingers?” She realized that she wasn’t giving him room to answer the question himself and so she is now working on building in the pause - giving room for reflection in her relationship with her son.
That’s something that I can work on in my relationships, too. How about you?
When Elijah encountered God in the mountains there was much noise. There was tremendous power. There was fire and earthquake and wind. But God wasn’t in any of them. It was in the silence that God was experienced. That still small voice of promise.
Find the beauty, wonder and relationship with God in the silence that you discover. And bring the gift of reflective silence to those who share their lives with you.
