Be Quiet

I'm learning how to be quiet.  It's a discipline that I have talked in circles about for a year or two, but have never quite figured out how to master.  

Living in our quasi-empty house a couple of nights per week is harder than it seems.  While we still have furniture there and it's completely comfortable, we have none of our "stuff" there and no cable or internet.  What on earth is a girl to do?  Oh, wait....You mean I can write and blog and journal and read and create and think and pray and meditate and do all of those things that I claim to never have time to do?  And yet, I find every excuse to add noise back into my life.  I go to the gym for 2 hours (not a bad thing, but I do think I'm stalling at some point), I go get dinner, I run to a store to pick up a gift, I head to CVS, and when I actually decide to go home and face the quiet that I'm dreading, I turn on an audiobook  

Noise.

None of the things I'm doing to fill my time are bad things to do.  And in fact, I am trying to enjoy the opportunity to get things done without a three-year old in tow.  But I am continually recognizing my inability to enjoy and reflect in the quiet times I've been given.  I don't consciously dread the quiet, but I certainly don't embrace it either.  I need to be better.  I need to retrain myself to turn off the noise.  I need to be able to function without the internet, tv, or even the constant music access I find as an escape.

It's so much easier to say than do.  I am wondering if I could go on a "noise fast."  Even for a day.  Perhaps that will be my self-challenge next week when I am back in Dallas.  Go straight home to my empty house and not be allowed to turn on any music, make phone calls, etc.  Just me, God, and the quiet.  

Challenge accepted.  The Quiet Game begins on June 19th.