Silence: Guarding the Heart

How often do we come out of a conversation, a discussion, a social gathering, or a business meeting with a bad taste in our mouth? How seldom have long talks proved to be good and fruitful? Would not many if not most of the words we use be better left unspoken? We speak about the events of the world, but how often do we really change them for the better? We speak about people and their ways, but how often do our words do them or us any good? We speak about our ideas and feelings as if everyone were interested in them, but how often do we really feel understood? We speak a great deal about God and religion, but how often does it bring us or others real insight? Words often leave us with a sense of inner defeat. They can even create a sense of numbness and a feeling of being bogged down in swampy ground. Often they leave us in a slight depression, or in a fog that clouds the window of our mind. ~ Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Way of the Heart

These words of Henri Nouwen describe how I feel each time I say something which I later regret. I think he expresses it so much better than I could have ever expressed. I talk too much. I say too many things. I’m always ready to give an opinion, a comment, an answer, and an explanation. Showing off my knowledge again? I just wonder if the things I say are really worth saying at all. And this is a discipline that I need to learn. Self-control. I need to learn to control my tongue.

Too often our words are superfluous, inauthentic and shallow. It is a good discipline to wonder in each new situation if people wouldn’t be better served by our silence than by our words. ~ Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Way of the Heart

Silence… guards the fire within…

Silence… helps us to learn to speak only when we really need to

Silence… allows God to speak to us and through us

The silence of the heart is much more important than silence of the mouth. Abba Poemen said: “A man may seem to be silent, but if his heart is condemning others he is babbling ceaselessly. But there may be another who talks from morning till night and yet he is truly silent.” ~ Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Way of the Heart