“Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” —Mark 6:31
We can reduce the pressure in our lives by the practice of creative silence. Most of us today have no idea how to practice creative silence. But it’s a great art, which we all should learn. Rabindranath Tagore, the great Indian poet, said, “Every day wash your soul in silence.” What a good thought that is!
If you want to master pressure, I would urge you to yield yourself everyday to the silence of God. If we encouraged our young people in this practice, they would develop into more efficient men and women. So I offer the suggestion that in every schoolroom in the land, once, every day, there be a brief silent period. Just plain, non-sectarian silence. I would hope, of course, that some child in this silent period just might start thinking about God.
Every family should have a quiet time every day. Everyone in business—or in any place of work—could well have a quiet time each day in his office. Just shut the door, push the papers aside, and be silent. A person communing with the silence will hear right things in it and find new peace.
Excerpted from Positive Living Day by Day, copyright © 2011 by Guideposts. All rights reserved.
