Friend and Fruit of Silence

"We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence." "The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace." - Mother Teresa

I once heard Rich Mullins asked what he liked to listen to when he wasn't playing and singing. The question was regarding music, but his answer was much deeper than expected. At the time, I didn't quite understand the power of his response but the more I think about it, the more powerfully the answer resonates with me. His answer was "silence."

Silence is active and powerful. But it can be hard to find in all of the "noise and restlessness" of our world. And sometimes when we finally find ourselves in silence, we try to block it out because we don't know what to do with it. But if we can learn to move past that awkward phase, we can grow to know, appreciate, and even embrace silence. Friendship with silence requires that we spend time together. And the fruit of this friendship is prayer, faith, love, service, and peace. That kind of fruit is great reason to become a friend of silence.