silence

I'm finding that I need silence more and more. I'm afraid my life was too full of wall to wall noise, in my past.

For years I either had music on, or was listening to the Bible being read on recordings. Alot of good stuff, but constant noise. I know of times if my wife wasn't home, I'd even have noise on at night as I was going to sleep.

That did change over the years as I became a person of alot less noise, yet relatively still more than was perhaps healthy. Now "noise" for me can include too much reading, though reading more meditatively, especially Scripture, in silence I think doesn't necessarily count as noise.

But I find that more and more I value silence. It makes me more keen for when I do read or listen to something. And in the silence I often get the sense of God which I need. I get a sense of trying to listen to God, draw near to him, and pray.

I need to listen, be still, and wait on God. In the silence, in the stillness, while in the word of God, or in a good book. This seems important to me, and maybe it's just a needed escape from the noisy culture in which we live, good at drowning out what we most need to hear.

What do you think about silence? Do you like it? Why or why not?