Praying with Silence

Not too long back, I was engaged with a friend in a conversation. And there came a moment of silence. I cannot recall for how long it really lasted but it was one of those silences that I would not mind it continuing for long. A very rare occurrence. There was no eye contact but in that silence, I felt the whole space around us being filled with the fullness of emotions. A connectedness and togetherness that need no words for an ongoing communication of ourselves to each other - of what resided in the depths of our hearts about this shared relationship.

Even as time passes me by, I still at times think back and reminisce that silence, which brought me to realise how quality time spent with another can actually just be a conversation with this type of silence. I need not find the right words to convey less perfectly my true intentions and desires. Neither do I have to worry that the other misunderstands me because this silence speaks of a mutual understanding that words can only distort and under-represent. 

Have you ever tried this silence with someone close to your heart?

This encounter with silence led me to accept, in my own friendship with Jesus, that at times, the best prayer is spoken in this same silence. Sitting down beside Him, not knowing what to say because so much have happened, so many emotions that all seemed mixed up and too varied to really begin to name them one by one. 

In that silence with Jesus, like the silence shared with my friend, there is the continuous communication of what resides in our hearts. After having walked closely together through the cycles of rainbows and storms in our lives, roughing it out together and coming to know each other more, do we really need words to communicate that one thing that still holds our friendship in an ever stronger bond - mutual love? Can any words complete this task? Perhaps, in that silence is the moment of savouring the sweetness of the friendship, the company of each other, the enduring commitment to continue walking with each other. In that moment, I am connected with His love, and I respond to His love with my love too. 

I am grateful for this dear friend of mine, who, in our friendship, allows me to catch a glimpse of what my friendship with Jesus can be like. 

Have you ever sat with Jesus and prayed with silence?

How may Jesus be inviting us, as Christmas arrives, to sit with Him, and far more than just sitting with Him, to make room in our hearts to welcome Him in?