Silence

My mouth will speak words of wisdom;
the utterance from my heart will give understanding.
Psalm 49:3

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19:14

Maybe it was because I watched that movie The Good Shepherd, which is marked by the silence of it's main character.

Or maybe it was a presentation by a guy that talked about silencing all those phones and blackberries and mp3 players and radios and TV's and computers and stereos that fill our life with noise.

Or maybe it is because my own mouth cannot be trusted. Unless I plan what I want to say, or at least weigh its importance, my mouth only gets me in trouble. I am poor at not speaking my mind or heart. I try to get better. I guess the silence makes me uncomfortable, like I have to fill it up with some witty thing. But there is no witty thing, the best thing is silence.

And the silence allows a chance to think, and a chance to listen.

I come from a family where we are all talking over each other and laughing. And eager to put in our bit.

When really the most powerful thing to offer at times is a smile or a laugh or just some deafening silence.

I guess if there was one thing I would like to practice more, it would be silence, and smiling.