Amazing what you can hear at night when the world around you is silent. My house is rarely ever silent. It is a hub bub of activity all day long. With 4 growing kids, and two grandparents sometimes my husband and I don’t know whether we are coming or going.

Once the little ones are off to bed, and everyone has trudged off to their room to recharge for another day, I like to enjoy the silence. I live about 10 blocks from the train station. During the day I never hear the train. I know it is running all day because I’ve seen the schedule, but it comes and goes and I am never the wiser. Except at night. At night, what the distractions of the day hide from me become clear. I can hear the train.

In those moments when I hear the train, I sometimes wonder what I’m not hearing during my busy days. What is passing me by without my being aware of it?

Silence is a gift. Mother Teresa liked to say that the fruit if silence is prayer. In a busy world where we are connected, to everything and just about everyone, its hard to find peace. Silence has been stolen from us. It has been taken in bits and pieces, like tiny ants at a picnic taking away the feast a crumb at a time. Silence, has become what out stressful lives desire, yet we know it not.

In Psalm 46 we hear of God being exalted in the midst of a chaotic world, roaring seas, nations in uproar but in the end it reminds us to Be still and know that I am God. You see, in order to find true peace, we should strive to find the quiet moments and acknowledge God in everything. The news, our jobs, our friends, the crowded trains. Be still and know that I am God, helps ups to focus on God and not the circumstances. It lifts our eyes from our surroundings and helps us to tune into what God is speaking to our hearts.

It is hard to let go of the day, to find a quiet place and know that God is there with you. But if we are still we will see Him. Prayer comes in those quiet times when we can detach from the world, and attach ourselves to Him.

On the rare occasions I hear the train pass during the day I smile and say speak Lord your servant is listening.