So many people today seem to have an addiction to noise, always leaving the TV on even while they sleep, or always having an Ipod playing no matter where they’re at, or leaving the radio on as they work, I even know of someone who has a machine that simulates static so that they can sleep at night. I wonder if maybe we’re not so much addicted to noise as we’re afraid of silence. Silence intimidates us, it’s unknown, it can be dangerous, we’re scared of silence because we know deep down in our souls it’s in the silence that God breathes the life to the visions and dreams He has given to us. Sartre once said, “ If you are lonely when you’re alone, you are in bad company.” Like a child who will hide under the bed when he is in trouble, we also try to hide from ourselves, for fear that we will see our true nature. What we don’t realize is that the guilt and shame, the disappointment that we’re not doing enough, is not our true nature. Christ not only died so we could go to heaven, he died so we could live and be set free from the sins of the world. We no longer bear the pain of our transgressions, for we are new creations in Christ and we have no reason to fear the silence anymore. The silence will terrify us because we find out that God’s plan for our lives is so much more than we could ever imagine, so much more than we could ever uncover on our own cognitions. When we choose to constantly seek out this silence we find that God reveals more and more of us, of who we are. Through the hush silence He shows us who He is. The more silence that we intake, the clearer our perceptions become, and we realize that we have lived so many years like a race horse, running a course with blinders on our eyes and not realizing what truly lies around us. Beethoven once said, “God whispers into the ears of some men, but He shouts into mine.” Although, I would never want anyone to have to live the life that Beethoven lived, the struggles and strongholds that kept him back, that kept him a prisoner within his own humanity. We can garner some understanding from Beethoven, and only strive to no longer hear a small whisper, but to hear God’s voice in a crystal clear way. Because as often as we can, we are getting into God’s presence, we’re being as still as we can be, as quiet and as silent as we can be, and we’re listening to that still small voice that is getting louder and louder in our ears.