Silence, in the society we live in today, is something we know very little about. There is a constant noise and busyness that can't be taken away. This is the way we've made it and the way we want it to be. We have become so accustomed to noise that we can't live without it and are afraid to. Silence is something that has become very negative and something that most people try to avoid on a daily basis. We have countless ways to fill it- TV, radio, computer, telephone. We have made it so that don't have to experience "awkward silence" as we like to call it.
Why is it this way though? Why has silence become such a bad thing?
Western society is a society built around convenience-everything is made so that we can just go and go and never stop. We are a fast-paced, busy society based on time-saving devices and plans that help us maximize the amount of time we have. We have made it so that we are always going and have something to do and therefore avoid the silence.
Being in Africa and getting to see how they live life makes you slow down and really take a look at how western society has made it so we've missed the point. African's live a life that is slow-paced and is absent of noise. It is so simple but yet so appealing. Technology and labor saving devices don't run their lives. They aren't worried about maximizing their time or having alot to do or aren't scared of silence. Because of their slow-paced lifestyle, they are able to hear silence and don't dread it, they are able to put value and focus on things that really matter like relationships, that many times we push to the back burner due to our busyness. They are able to focus on other people when we are too busy worrying about OUR own time to think about anyone else. They are able to look around them and see the world, where we are too busy to even notice it. We have become so afraid of silence that we do everything we can to avoid it but in doing that we lose everything else and everything it has to offer.


Maybe we think we don't have time to slow down? or maybe we think it will cause mayhem if we do? or maybe we're too scared to, cause if we do, we'll hear god and he'll tell us things we don't want to hear?
Either way I think its time to slow down. Take a second and listen and you'll hear things you've never heard before. Take a look around you and realize whats really going on in this world. Take the focus off yourself for a minute and put it on someone else and you'll see a world of change. Stop worrying about maximizing your time and you'll feel like you have all the time in the world. and maybe you will hear god and he will take you unbelievable places you never imagined you would go.
No matter what, its worth a shot.