“In the silence of the heart, God speaks!”  This is a quote by Mother Theresa that has come to mean a whole lot to me in my life.  Our world is so full of distractions and is so very loud.  I thought after I left my full-time job to come home that things would slow down, and the distractions would be less…Who was I kidding?  Now instead of five adults telling me what to do I have five wonderful children harping orders at me.  I think, no I know, that my kids are more demanding than the Bishop I used to work for!  (Man do I miss working for my bishop!)

There is always something begging for our attention.  In our world today it’s difficult to know if we are coming or we are going.  With all that noise, how do we hear the most important voice we need to hear?  How do we know what we are called to do by the only person’s opinion who really matters?  How do we do the will of God when we simply cannot hear him?

I have never been one who has been good at sitting still.  I feel like I always have to be “doing” something.  As a mom there is always laundry to be done, dishes to be washed, cleaning to do, etc.  It hasn’t been until very recently that I have learned how to just sit and relax.  (I have many years of relaxing to catch up on!)  I simply had no idea “how” to relax, and to be honest, I still sometimes struggle with it today!  I would be able to see people sitting on their decks enjoying the sunshine and I would think, “Man if they don’t have laundry to do, I can sure send some over. ?  The point here is when we are so busy in our lives, we are most likely not doing what God is calling us to do.  God never wants us to be too busy that we cannot slow down enough to hear His voice or enjoy His creation.

For me, as soon as the first child in my house wakes up and the last child goes to sleep there is ABSOLUTELY no silence in our home!  Yes, I am saying we are a loud, yet INCREDIBLY fun family!  (I promise…come hang out with us and you’ll see!)  Thus, if I want to spend some time with my loving God, I must get myself up before all of them (which is difficult, because I love sleep) and I need to take time in prayer with my wonderful and loving Father.  It doesn’t work for me to do it at the end of the day because I’m so exhausted that I just fall asleep.  So each day, Dan and I, have made it a habit that we will wake up an hour before any of our children and we move to our prayer space and together individually spend our quiet time with Jesus.  It has become one of our favorite times of the day.  We do not talk, we do not pray together, but instead we lovingly support one another on our mission to get one another to heaven.  Thank you God that we have each other…left to my own accord I know I’d choose to sleep in!!! (Did I mention…I love sleep?)

My encouragement to all of you is that you find some time in your day to just slow down and be silent!  Relax with your heavenly Father who just wants to shower you with His love.  If we never slow down and let ourselves be silent, how will God speak to our hearts?