Silence is Key

Having lived most of my life thinking that it was risky to look forward, especially because of my mother’s death at forty-nine and my father’s at sixty-two (my age at this moment), I’ve come to count each day as a gift beyond anything I ever expected. I wouldn’t go back to change a thing… Of course I would prefer not to have encountered spasmodic dysphonia. At the same time, I know that the illness has provided me with an opportunity to examine aspects of my life that I might otherwise have neglected.
—Diane Rehm, Finding My Voice, 239.

Have you found your voice? So many forces in our culture compete for it. Advertisers ask us to speak with our wallets. Politicians ask us to speak with our vote. Ethnicity and culture ask us to speak with our identity. So many voices! Host of her own NPR talk show, Diane Rehm discovered she was stricken with a disorder that affects her ability to speak. The only treatment she’s found effective is a series of Botox injections directly into her throat. Following treatment, her voice eventually comes back. But the treatments do not last. “Experiencing silence has become the key,” she says, “to finding my voice.”

I hope never to face a physical ailment that interferes with my ability to speak. Still, silence—and the extended solitude that can come with it—is the key in finding and claiming my voice. In silence I can set all other voices on “mute” for a moment, to set aside the politics, to set aside all that is ideological and polarizing. Instead of figuring out what to say, I can figure out how I am supposed to be.

It is in silence that I can hear my own voice developing because in silence my deepest relationships become clear: husband, father, son, brother, friend. These are relationships not based on what I do or what I think but who I am and to whom I am connected. From here I find my voice.

What relationships come to you in silence, relationships that are really gifts that help you find your voice?

Along the Way, I wish you God’s peace on today’s stage of your Lenten spiritual journey. May Christ’s companionship bless you with confidence for the day, comfort you in trouble, and put a spring of joy in your step.