Expressing silence

Expressing myself...I value it...it's part of my being,..part of this package...

it's the wrapping..the bow.

Listening is inside the package...equally important...

learning from people...loving people...as they express in their own way

Lately, though, I just don't seem to express myself effectively

My thoughts are there...my heart is there...

but the normal wrapping is not taped

The listening too...it's there...my love...my compassion

but it's like I've been packaging the wrong item.

Soooo...I've been thinking about it...

scared to be misunderstood...

doing a lot more of the reflective listening.

But it hasn't been enough...

I've had to really dig

What's this sudden inability to express myself about?

What's the message here Teresa?

I put the package away...I take it back out...

I process it...think...trying to find the source of disconnect

I've been unwrapping and wrapping and repackaging and picking new things.

I want to know...I want to share it...I want to say it right...on and on and on..

Last night I grabbed some books from the shelf...looking for something for a friend

I opened up Mother Teresa's book, No Greater Love.

I read...even through the Jesus stuff that usually blocks me...

and THERE was the message.

Listen in silence, because if your heart is full of other things you cannot hear the voice of God.  But when you have listened to the voice of God in the stillness of your heart, then you heart is filled with God. 

… in the silence of the heart God speaks. Then from the fullness of our hearts, our mouth will have to speak. That is the connection. In the silence of the heart, God speaks and you have to listen.  Then in the fullness of your heart, because it is full of God, full of love, full of compassion, full of faith, your mouth will speak.

The contemplatives and ascetics of all ages and religions have sought God in the silence and solitude of the desert, forest, and mountain.

We too are called to withdraw at certain intervals into deeper silence and aloneness with God…To be alone with Him, not with our books, thoughts, and memories but completely stripped of everything, to dwell lovingly in His presence –silent, empty, expectant, and motionless.

We cannot find God in noise and agitation. Nature: trees, flowers, and grass grow in silence.  The stars, the moon, and the sun move in silence.  

Silence of our eyes

Silence of our ears

Silence of our mouths

Silence of our minds

...In the silence of the heart, God will speak

Silence of the heart is necessary so you can hear God everywhere – in the closing of the door, in the person who needs you, in the birds that sing, in the flowers in the animals. 

If we are careful of silence it will be easy to pray. There is so much talk, so much repetition, so much carrying on of tales in words and in writing. Our prayer life suffers so much because our hearts are not silent.

I shall keep the silence of my heart with greater care, so that in the silence of my heart I hear His words of comfort and from the fullness of my heart I comfort the poor. (pg 7-10)

Oh my gosh...Teresa...there it is...

Silence is MORE than listening

It's about letting go...of all the thoughts, the words, the analyzing...all of it.

being emptied so that I can be filled by God.

It's getting filled up and emptied all at the same time

Our lungs fill with air...it's a necessity...

but even when full of air, there is empty space...

air is there and room is there.

When we sit in silence...we let go of all the unnecessary stuff in our hearts

we empty it...

and let it be filled by God.

and only then can I listen...

only then will I express myself effectively... 
expressing myself through silence