“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature — trees, flowers, grass — grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence … We need silence to be able to touch souls.” – Mother Teresa
The school holidays have ended- and there’s an “empty beach” benefit for my soul. How selfish that sounds, since every pupil and school staff member has begun a new term and can’t pop down the beach whenever they feel like it!
Let me explain my happiness. Empty beaches have a special kind of silence, especially on mornings like this. Few people about, a couple of friendly dogs, a gentle breeze and a calm sea barely splashing on the strand. Just me and open air with no noisy distractions- and a silence that seems to open a window to the heavenly realms. Nature, poised in perfect balance between the turning of the tide; a calm morning with the promise of heat to come.
I had 40 minutes before I needed to be “somewhere important.” I realised I already was somewhere important.
This place offered a beginning of the new day spent “in tune” with Jesus Christ. Imagination found it easy to visualise Jesus walking beside the sea, perhaps 40 minutes away from meeting a crowd of God-seekers. He too would appreciate the clear blues of sea and sky, the sculpted stones underfoot, the quiet of solitude… Words of praise, perhaps humming the tune of a psalm, reflecting on words of Scripture, preparing for the choices and challenges of the day. Yes, this moment mattered.
This was a holy place, where a special kind of silence spoke with great eloquence.
An ancient prayer fitted the need for a response:
God be in my head, and in my understanding; God be in my eyes, and in my looking; God be in my mouth, and in my speaking; God be in my heart, and in my thinking; God be at my end, and at my departing.
The Reflectionary 