Day of Silence

Today, Febuary 24, 2010, I decided to do a day of silence. Many people were puzzled about this and I could only offer the answer that I was doing an experiment. I will explain the deeper meaning behind this day of silence.

No, I was not supporting something or raising awareness. I was not mute. I was trying to understand the tongue and it's effects on our everyday lives. So my earlier answer was true about this experiment, but there is a deeper meaning to this experience.

In scripture, the tongue is often spoken mentioned. When I was looking up verses on the tongue, my results on http://www.youversion.com came up with 135 results. Granted, not all of these were direct results of what I was looking for. I found verses that spoke about praising God with our tongues and also how wicked and deceitful our tongues are. James 3:9 states "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness." It is puzzling to me why the tongue has the ability to do this. Even though James 3:8 says "but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.", I wanted to see what it was like to silence the tongue, at least for a day, and if God's presence and the ability for me to hear what He is trying to say was easier with silence.

I can honestly that God is great and amazing. He used today to tell me to look at my surroundings, his gifts to us and simply enjoy without complaining. I noticed leaves that usually my eyes just past by. I noticed animals and specifically how beautiful birds can be. I noticed the playfulness of a cat climbing up a tree. I noticed the grass was growing green again. Usually, we get caught up in what we are doing and what to say and overlook the beauty of God's creation. My day of silence enabled me to "stop and smell the roses" while carrying on with my day. I wasn't worried about what to say or when because I chose to be silent. In this case silence truly is golden.

Communication wasn't completely shut off though. I still had to communicate in the classroom and with puzzled friends. I thought it was kinda ironic that we have been studying non-verbal communication in speech. Being silent for a day helped me understand truly what we were studying! I still sent text messages, I still wrote on Facebook, and I still was able to right my thoughts on paper so a puzzled friend could understand me. I noticed today though that vocal majors were the best at reading lips. I still "put a muzzle on my mouth" as quoted from Psalms 39:1 and lived to tell the tale.

Another aspect of the tongue is the ability to praise God with it. There are tons of verses of praising God for example

I cried out to him with my mouth;
his praise was on my tongue.
Psalm 66:17

My tongue will tell of your righteous acts
all day long...
Psalm 71:24

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure...
Psalm 16:9

My tongue will speak of your righteousness
and of your praises all day long.
Psalm 35:28

After my day of silence, I want to be able to speak of my God more frequently. I feel my tongue has not been concentrating on praising but rather harmful words. Through my day of silence, I realized this issue, but I plan to resolve it.

A day of silence isn't that hard. I still had exceptions like being called on in class and the listening lab (which required me to talk because I simply could not get my intentions through). After listening lab, I immediately silenced myself. I would recommend a day of silence for anyone because I feel it is important to hush and listen. An anagram of silent is listen. I think that's a clue! I was positive.

If you are one of my puzzled friends who wanted to know more about my day of silence, I hope this blog has told you the answers you were looking for. I would recommend the book of James. It is relatively short and able to be read in one sitting. I pray these words speak to you.

Seale