I love waking up in the morning to quiet- laying in bed, praying, thinking, processing, preparing for the day- all in quiet.  Since Ang has been back at work and the kiddos have come to Nana and Papa’s playhouse, my morning silence has… well, vanished.  (if you’ve ever met my nephew, you understand.  if you haven’t, imagine the loudest kid in the world.  multiply that by 10, but imagine him being too adorable to be irritated with.  that’s gavyn.)  This morning as I was being roused by the stomping of little feet on the floor above me, my tired little soul was crying out for silence.  So I went on a walk.  While enjoying the silence on the walk, I decided to extend that silence into the rest of my day.  I wasn’t going to listen to the radio or turn on the TV- just enjoy silence.  I knew I was going to have to do a lot of driving today, so I thought it would be great time to engage in conversation with the Lord and bring some much needed restoration into my aforementioned tired little soul.  Let me tell you- today’s silence was one of the hardest things I’ve done in a long time.  In the words of Henri Nouwen, “The trouble is, as soon as you sit and become quiet, you think, Oh, I forgot this.  I should call my friend. Later on I’m going to see him.  Your inner life is like a banana tree filled with monkeys jumping up and down.”  Well, hello monkeys.  It makes me sad that I have trouble silencing my soul long enough to listen, to go beyond talking and into really hearing the still, small voice of the Lord.  I get so caught up in junk and it’s hard for me to sort through all the noise in my head, so I take the easy road.  I plug in a CD.  I turn on the TV.  I sit in front of the computer.  I call someone.  Not that these things are bad in and of themselves, but where is my escape?  Where is my comfort found?  The discipline of silence S-U-C-K-S.  That’s why it’s called a discipline.  However, I’m going to make a more concentrated effort to engage in it, because in the silence, God is allowed to speak.  In the silence, I allow myself to listen.  And in the silence, I will grow and come to look more like my Jesus.  That sounds pretty good to me…