It has been a really long time since I wrote anything here, the last post being a follow-up to my post on our monastery blog. Now here I am, once again making an entry after writing on the monastery site, stwalburg.blogspot.com. Not sure what that says about me!

What's prompting my reflection here today is the response to my thoughts about non-verbal communication that I wrote last week on the St. Walburg blog . Several people have responded, all focusing on the power of silence in communication, and grateful for being reminded of this reality.

I guess silence is one of those entities that gets glossed over in our daily busyness. It falls into the cracks between noise and chatter. Once in a while silence makes itself felt by its absence, times in our day when sound becomes a blanket that smothers instead of merely embracing us.  On occasions when that happens to me, I just want to retreat.

There are other times, however, when silence comes as a quiet little gem waiting to be appreciated. It can be between friends, family members, co-workers, or even an individual and her surroundings. This kind of silence is an invitation to go deeper, to leave the momentary surface and find a new dimension of some current reality. Silence can take us into ourselves, to some infrequently visited aspect of our life. This inward journey can lead to hidden treasures about a friend or even about ourselves.

Silence can carry a lot of weight too. It can hold pain, frustration, anger  - all kinds of emotions. When we pay attention to silence and find this kind of  treasure, we are often faced with more work than we bargained for. Because we have uncovered these feelings, it's likely we have laid bare a reality that needs attention.

Silence is a gift that, when savored, can bring unxpected rewards that challenge us to live more fully with ourselves and with others.

a kentucky monk