“Thou hast created us for thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee.” ~ Augustine
We live in a world of ubiquitous information—the information age and now AI. Our schedules are overbooked with more and more responsibilities and activities. We are over extended. We are saturated with social media and information overload via our smartphones. We cannot detach ourselves long enough from our technologies to listen to what is really going on deep in our souls. We become anxious when we experience the least bit of silence. Silence isn’t a friend to many people. It feels uncomfortable to be with ourselves in the silence for any length of time. I am not sure why, maybe we’re afraid to be with ourselves in the silence. It can be scary going beneath the surface of our lives— there is so much there. So, what do we do? Without being aware, we reach for our smartphones, our laptop and start scrolling for connection, for nuggets of something to comfort our hearts and we become very good at drowning the silence with noise. Maybe the real issue is that we are under-resourced with opportunities to truly listen to our lives. To listen at what is going on inside us. To listen to our feelings. Augustine said in his Confessions, “I am scattered.” Do you ever feel scattered? I feel scattered sometimes—too much information, my heart seems troubled and I am not sure why. Sometimes it feels as though you are in a fog with too many doubts and too many voices competing for the truth, your soul—you feel restless. Augustine also said, "Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee." One way to find rest, one way to remove the world’s distractions is to take time to listen to your life. I mean truly listen. To take a quiet moment and sit prayerfully and quietly with the inner stirrings of your heart before God. Try to create an intentional space, a listening space where all the internal chatter is muted. You may go to a nearby park or your back patio. Stop. Listen. Notice a bird, notice a cloud forming or the sound of children playing. Thank God for eyes that see and ears that hear. In the presence of God ask yourself this question: what is the state of my soul? Welcome everything that comes and resist nothing. Welcome any shame, welcome any quilt that may surface. Our God is amazing. He knows without our asking where our hearts are. He longs for us to listen to our lives. And while you are praying, be attentive to the unforced rhythms of God’s grace. In the resting, in the releasing, the Holy Spirit will gently speak to your heart and you will come away refreshed—fully known and fully loved by God. And you will come to know yourself in a better way, you will learn to be clear and kind to yourself in this space of grace. Jesus many times in his life escaped the crowds, the needs and the noise of the world around him and found a quiet place. In that space, Jesus rested. Jesus caught his breath. He let go. And he released himself to his Father. Letting go, resting and releasing ourselves to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is both life-giving and what our souls truly long for the most. So, I pray that you will take a quiet moment very soon to listen to your life, let your life speak to you—all of it. For your soul so longs to be heard. Amen.