Golden?

I can well remember the move we made early in our married life, from a flat on a busy bus route in town, to a bigger house in a village some 8 miles away. We moved for all the classic right reasons. A house with a garden, a better school for our daughters, and a smaller community. We loved it, but none of the reasons given were what hit us hardest. For the first week, we couldn't sleep well. The reason was the silence at night. It took a while to get used to silence, but once we were used to it, we loved it, and to this day, I still much prefer the quietness of village life, to the noise and bustle of town or city life. So for me, the old saying is true, “Silence is golden”. There is even a song about it!

There is another side to silence, however. Anyone who has been in any kind of relationship, or a close family will know that silence from the one(s) you love is the worst thing that can be done to you. It can be worse than an argument, or letting off steam, and any married couple will recognise that truth. The words “they're not talking to me” can be devastating. It tears at your heart, slowly but surely, and the longer it goes on, the worse it gets, and it may only last for hours!

We all live and survive in another family, the Family of God, so why do we have silences between close family? Do you ever feel that “they are not talking to me”? You may be right, because the Church Family is no different in this respect from our blood family, so there will be times when we don't communicate well. Now let me ask you this. Could it be that we are the ones not doing the talking when we should? Are we expecting others to make the move to speak, when we should be doing it ourselves? It is too easy to see the speck in someone else's eye, as Jesus taught, than to see something in our own eye.

“Not talking” in our own family or our own relationships is not good, and neither is it good in our Church Family. Maybe we should not continue to wait for the “others” to talk to us, maybe, just maybe, we should be doing the talking first! Sure, “Silence is Golden”, but only sometimes, and for short times. At other times it is heartbreaking! The challenge? On Sunday, when your Church Family gathers, talk to someone different. To those who will do that, or who already know this truth, thank you. I know God will Bless!