April – Silence

I’m sorry this month’s message has taken slightly longer to arrive. I normally try to get this email written and sent by the 5th of each month, but I have struggled this month with Easter, a family holiday, and an influx of house guests (and the joys of raising a toddler!!). I am only just finding the time now to sit down and write this to you.

The other reason this is late is that I have really struggled with what to say to you this month. The world seems so heavy with war, politics, division, and hatred. It is a constant battle between keeping up to date with the news and world events and looking after your own soul.

Earlier this week, I attended an online retreat where the theme was “the restorative power of listening.” During the session, we were encouraged to be silent in order to truly listen to people. As well as allowing us to listen to others more attentively, silence also allows us to listen to ourselves and that small voice of the Divine within.

At the moment, it feels like there are a plethora of voices shouting, raging, and declaring war and division. What should our response be? Yes, we should speak up and take a stand for what is good and true, but I also think that perhaps being silent is a good place to start.

Silent to ensure we respond from a place of internal peace. I heard the following story recently about a man called A. J. Muste, a lifelong pacifist who, during the Vietnam War, stood in front of the White House night after night for years, holding a lighted candle.

A one-person protest, conducted near the end of his life.

One very rainy night, a reporter asked him, “Mr Muste, do you really think you are going to change the policies of this country by standing out here alone at night with a candle?”

“Oh,” Muste replied, “I don’t do it to change the country; I do it so the country won’t change me.”

This month, let silence be the candle we hold so that our souls are not changed by the current state of the world.

Offered with much care,
David