Silent Prayer=Active Life

God is the friend of silence.

See how nature--trees, flowers, grass--grow in silence?

The more we receive in silent prayer;

the more we can give in our active life.

--Mother Teresa

The past two days have been beautiful. The warmer temperatures, and bright sunlight have brought not only a thaw to the winter snow, but also a more cheerful disposition to those that are around me (and to be truthful, myself). The gloomy days that winter consists of really do drag my spirit down, and I need the refreshment that the rays of sunshine bring to my moods.

A friend of mine thoughtfully gave me a little book this last Wednesday--that day that all single people dread. :) I'm not complaining, really, but Valentine's day is a day when it is tough to be single. Anyway, my friend Christina left me a sweet card and gift, and it really brightened my day to know that I am really not "alone", as much as V-day really makes you feel as though you are. Christina is my exercise partner, and we get up every morning and exercise at 6:00. She is currently subbing at the school, and so she is familiar with my trials and tribulations concerning coworkers, kids, community happenings, my health, school, etc... Knowing all of that, she realizes how stressed I can be, and gave me a book entitled "101 ways to Relax and Reduce Stress". I've been skimming through it, but have decided to use it more as a devotional activity for myself. Many of the pages offer biblical quotes and authors, and after reading a few, it really made me miss the days of the paper and writing my editorials. I doubt that many people actually read the editorials that I wrote, but it was good for my soul to be able to read something in a book and then have an opportunity to reflect on it...much as I seem to do with this blog. Writing for the paper wasn't really (at least for me) to produce something for someone else to read, but instead, an exercise of putting my thoughts on paper and mulling over the things that I read, or the events of my life. I just happened to use a medium that other people had access to, much like I am doing now. Anyway...since I haven't given myself an opportunity for that type of writing lately, my blog posts may go the route of reflective writing, instead of standard journal entries... I'm sure it may depend on what has happened that day, and whether I feel that I can share it truthfully in this way, or whether I can even be that honest with myself, knowing that many people (who actually know me...scary thought!) check this! :)

In the past few days, since the weather has been nicer, I've spent more time outside. Specifically, I've spent a lot of time at the Marion County Lake. Julie and I walked around it the other day, and today we rode our bikes around it. Even though Julie and I talked throughout our walk and ride, there were moments of companionable silence. In those moments, there were times that I was: thinking about our conversations and what my next witty (ha!) reply would be; doing a mental checklist of things that needed to be done later; thinking about traffic and annoying yappy dogs; but also there was just silence. My thoughts were silent...I was silent...I didn't pay attention to the thoughts that were crowding in my head and vying for attention...instead I looked, I listened, I smelled the breeze, I felt...my mind was clear--still soaking in the beauty that surrounded me, but being silent and feeling that by being silent I was restoring myself, slowing myself down, being prayerful. Instead of petitioning God as I am so often guilty of, I was rejoicing in what was surrounding me and living in His beauty.

My life is active, I am active...with friends, family, work, school, church, RESPONSIBILITIES! In order to be active though, I need to spend the time, set aside the time, to be quiet, prayerful, to lead a "slower" lifestyle...to restore my body and mind so that I can be useful to others.

As the days become longer and warmer, I look forward to being quiet and watching those new shoots of spring emerge from my lawn. Already I have several sprigs of new growth poking their tops out of the ground that just last week was frozen solid. Right now they are fragile looking, but I know that with time they will grow to be strong and beautiful. Steadfast silence now=true beauty later.