Sitting Still in Silence

I have been watching the television show Lost lately. The show is about a group of passengers on a flight from Sydney to Los Angles whose plane crashes on an island in the Pacific. Some how there are 48 survivors and they are alone on a beautiful island. The refuges become restless and bored with nothing to do but gather food and water and we gather the feeling that there is no entertainment or ways to keep their lives busy.

Watching Lost has made me realize, this is a feeling I have never had. We have established social systems that do not allow for idle time. From the earliest ages, young children have established schedules from 2-year-old schools following with play dates on Mondays & Wednesdays, and piano lessons once a week. Family dinners are becoming less frequent and stress levels are rising every year. High school youth are expected to play multiple sports, musical instruments, participate in social clubs, and somehow find time to participate in church youth groups, but only after everything else is finished.

Right now I am on our youth fall retreat on Kentucky Lake. We began our day with a short five or ten minute Morning Prayer service. Since the goal of this weekend is to have everyone slow down their busy lives a little, I was very intentional about silence after each prayer. I have obviously forgotten how difficult it is to be silent. I found myself unable to sit still for as long as I intended, but instead moved through the service faster than I wanted to. Silence and being still became a challenging task.

I think silence is important and reflection is necessary in our lives. The few times in my life when I have really been able to slow down, I have found it much easier to hear that still small voice in my head. I have been able to find my calling without feeling too helpless and lost. As we spend our time on Kentucky Lake trying to slow down our busier lives, I challenge anyone who reads this to do the same. Try sitting still for five minutes. It really is much more difficult than I ever thought.