| Join me through December as I contemplate how Christmas can make a difference in my life. |
“We are silent in the early hours of each day, because God is supposed to have the first word, and we are silent before going to sleep, because to God also belongs the last word.”
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer ~
Quite a few years ago I visited a friend who lived way out in the country. Way out. There were no street lights to keep me awake at night. No sounds of car doors slamming, dogs barking and other normal sounds of living in a city. The silence was loud.
It was into such a silence of night that Christ was born. The soft sounds of the animals in the stable and the sounds of labor from Mary the only noise precluding His arrival, Jesus the word who was with God in the beginning. The first Word of our world’s morning. And on that day, He was the first word coming into this world announcing our salvation.
Many were making too much noise to hear The Word. On that day or any other day of His life and death.
Too many are making too much noise to hear Him today! At Christmas or every other day of the year. Somedays, I make too much noise. My mind whirls with ideas, thoughts, plans and I find myself doing my thing instead of God’s all day long. There is more worry, unrest, doubt, and fear that I have to wrestle with.
I think Bonhoeffer had it right, that we should allow God to have the first word of our day and the last. There is more peace, direction and rightness to my day!
I’m learning that in the morning before my head starts filling with the busyness and distractions of the day is the best time to do my Bible study/devotionals. I try to get there as many days as I can. Before the noise starts, I can hear better. I still working on centering my mind, calming my mind, quieting my mind to give him the last word of my day, too. Fewer of my words and thoughts and more of HIS!
Our world is so noisy, we need to train our souls in silence so we can better hear God. Click to Tweet
What about you? When do you hear God best? When it is quiet enough to hear His voice? Do you set that time aside as belonging to HIM?
