"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." — Psalm 23:4
In today's world, silence is almost countercultural. We fill every spare moment with noise — podcasts, scrolling, music, television. We are terrified of what we might hear if we stopped long enough to actually listen.
I was that person. Silence made me uncomfortable because silence meant being alone with my own thoughts. And my thoughts, for a long time, were not a safe place to be.
But there came a point where the noise stopped working. Where the distraction wasn't distracting enough anymore. And I was left — finally, uncomfortably, necessarily — with the quiet.
That's when I began to discover what the Psalmist knew: that even in the darkest valley, we don't walk alone. The presence of God isn't found in the noise. It's found in the stillness. And learning to sit in that stillness — even when it's uncomfortable, even when the thoughts come rushing in — is one of the most transformative practices I've ever undertaken.
"Be still, and know that I am God." — Psalm 46:10
Embracing silence isn't about emptying your mind. It's about bringing your full, honest, messy self into the presence of Someone who is not afraid of any of it. It's about learning to listen more than you speak. To receive more than you perform.
Start small. Five minutes. No phone. No music. Just you and the quiet and the invitation to be still. It will feel strange at first. That's okay. Keep showing up to the silence, and slowly — slowly — you'll find what I found: that the peace you've been chasing was waiting for you there all along.