This past weekend my husband and I had a few people over for a bonfire. It was the first time that we really spent time in our backyard and I was thrilled to show off my garden. We received many compliments on how lush and healthy everything looked. I felt a sense of pride well up inside me as I thought about all of the hard work I had put into creating space for each plant to thrive.
This process consisted of me spending time thinning out the carrots. If anyone has ever planted carrots you will know how tiny the seed is. It is nearly impossible to perfectly space each seed so instead I used the dump method. I sprinkled a bunch of seeds into the row and after they sprouted I carefully thinned the row so each plant was about two inches apart. This is the perfect amount of space each carrot plant needs to flourish!
As I was busy working in the garden our neighbor came out to say hi. He was appalled when he saw me pulling out actual plants from the garden and asked why I was doing such a thing. I explained to him that for the carrots to fully develop they need the room. If I just left them clumped up in the row they would grow together and the produce would be all tangled up!
This conversation made me reflect on the number of times I have allowed my soul to get all tangled up! It feels like time and time again I need to pray about what needs to be ‘weeded’ out of my life to make more room for the Lord. I am only human and therefore I fall under the same cluttered lifestyle time and time again.
We all need to create space in our spiritual lives so we have room to grow. Our current age is addicted to overstimulation and noise. Social media leads us to live in a constant state of comparison. When our day to day life is persistently cluttered with what everyone else is doing, we are unable to open our hearts to what the Lord is doing.
St. Theresa of Calcutta said, “We need to find God and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is a friend of silence.”
God is a friend of silence but many of us are not! It may seem impossible to imagine a scenario where we are given the opportunity to sit in complete silence. No phone. No company. No radio. Just silence. Do we even have time for that? How do we create a silence space where we can meet the Lord in a busy and noisy world?
As a perpetual multitasker, I am always listening to something while completing the mundane tasks. I catch up on my favorite podcasts or discover new music while driving, washing dishes, folding laundry, or even weeding the garden. After a conversation with the Lord during Eucharistic Adoration, I was reminded that Christ is with me all day. He is walking alongside me when I am doing these daily chores. After that encounter with Jesus I felt challenged to do some of these tasks in silence. It is an easily attainable moment to rest in silence and allow the Holy Spirit to inspire my thoughts.
I challenge you to ask the Lord to reveal to you one way that he is inviting you to rest in silence. Is he asking you to turn the radio off on the way home from work or challenging you to workout in silence? It is not an easy thing to do but just like the carrots, our souls need room to flourish. Silence might just be the quickest path to creating that space.
Until Next Time~Your Sister in Christ,
Abby
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