by Sandy Kirby Quandt

As you may imagine, when I taught elementary-aged students, I spent a lot of time talking. A lot of time. Once I stepped out of the classroom to write full-time, one of the biggest transitions I had to make was adjusting to the silence that surrounded my days.

I’m not a phone person. I don’t like spending time in long conversations on the phone. I just don’t. So the minute Pilot walked in our front door after work each weekday afternoon, I talked non-stop asking him about the minutiae of his day.

I needed to hear another person’s voice. I needed another person to hear my voice. Through the years I’ve learned to temper that impulse, so it isn’t as bad now.

To fill in the absence of human conversation during my day, I talked to the inanimate things around me that weren’t able to answer me back. Of course there were the dogs. I talked to them all day long. I talked to the computer when it refused to perform as I commanded. I talked – well, more like yelled – to the crazy drivers I encountered on the road.

Hey. I’m a writer. That’s what we writers do. We talk to the fictional characters in the books we’re writing all the time. We work out scenarios by talking through them. Depending on the genre we write, the search histories on our computers could prove quite interesting.

Ask any of us. You’ll see it’s true.

But in all of this, the one thing I learned to enjoy in the silence is being still and quiet before God. I love to sit outside and listen to the sounds of God’s creation and marvel at the fact he allows us to be a part of that creation. During those times I talk to God, and listen for his reply.

Creation doesn’t need to use words to display God’s glory. It doesn’t matter where we live, or the time of day, Gods’ creation tells a story. It tells the story of a Creator God, Elohim, who spoke the world into being.

It tells of an All-Powerful, Omnipotent God who loves us enough to speak to us through that creation. If only we will pause long enough from our busy life, be silent and listen.

What are the ways you listen to God in the silence of creation?

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The heavens are telling the glory of God; they are a marvelous display of his craftsmanship. Day and night they keep on telling about God. Without a sound or word, silent in the skies, their message reaches out to all the world. The sun lives in the heavens where God placed it and moves out across the skies as radiant as a bridegroom going to his wedding, or as joyous as an athlete looking forward to a race! The sun crosses the heavens from end to end, and nothing can hide from its heat. Psalm 19:1-6 (TLB)

I wish you well.

Sandy

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