The Sound of Silence
🎶🎶"Hello, darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was
planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence"
These are the lyrics from a song written over several months in 1963 and 1964. "The Sounds of Silence", is a song by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel. The song was written by Paul Simon and I haven't thought about this song in years...until today.
Last week we were on the beach. Two days were cloudy, cold and rainy and two days were cloudy with sun. It was a silent time of reading, waves crashing, and squawking seagulls (as a lady nearby felt great joy in feeding these birds) but overall a time a silence. Today, as I sit outside before the rain arrives...it's silent again. I hear bees buzzing by and loud fluttering of hummingbirds frolicking but mostly silence.
I notice the comfort of the silence...Hello silence, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again. I realize that my spirit longs for this time and 2020 has offered it up in abundance. Have I noticed this great gift of silence?? Today, I realize that the squawking of life has exhausted me and my spirit. The words I hear daily just seem empty, shrill, and shallow. But there is depth in the silence. A silent voice within us can be heard when we ourselves chose silence. Visions are revealed, seeds planted, I see silent faces that need love, the silent needs I overlook of those around me, the silent love of a Creator reminding me 'you are loved, you have purpose, you are accepted'.
Paul Simon was interviewed about the song and its lyrics. His said, that actually, he went into his bathroom, turned off the light and turned on the water...and the lyrics came to him. The darkness he refers to is simply a quiet, alone place. Paul Simon discovered a truth that the Bible reveals:
"My soul waits in silence on God alone; from Him comes my salvation." Psalm 62:1
"But you, when you pray, enter your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." Matthew 6:6
Choose today silence. And listen.
