Kindness In The Silence

Kindness in the Silence

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.

1 Timothy 2:1

“I’ve prayed all these years, and God has never once answered.”

The weight of those words hung in the air between us. As much as I wanted to disagree, to remind her of all the ways God had provided, I remained silent, choosing to simply listen.

My therapist friends have taught me the power of silence, of allowing someone to think aloud, of allowing a person to grapple with emotions in the sacred space of uninterrupted companionship.

We both knew her words weren’t true, but, in that moment, that was her felt truth. And feelings can be honest and raw and different from reality because they represent our perceptions—right or wrong, factual or not. In a world of perfectly posed Instagram photos, it takes courage to admit that everything isn’t okay, that life feels unbearably hard, that God seems to be silent. When someone bravely whispers that things aren’t perfect—she received a dreaded medical diagnosis, her marriage is on the rocks, or whatever hard thing she whispers across that quiet space—what is it that we can do?

How do we respond to those whispered needs—needs whose solutions seem so much more complex and less tangible than a bag of groceries secretly left on the porch? Sometimes silent companionship is the best way to show the love of Christ without coming across as insincere—with answers that are too simplistic or with a distracted pat on the head as we quickly change the subject.

And we can pray. We are called to intercede in prayer on behalf of others, asking for God to help in their circumstances. There is such power in prayer, and sometimes our role, our best way to help, is to faithfully and quietly pray for our friends when they are too tired, too weary to pray for themselves. God is good. He hears our prayers and is moved to respond (see Matthew 7:7-11), even when life is hard—especially when life is hard.

—Julie

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

Is there someone in your life who needs the gift of listening? Pray silently for that person’s struggles, and then offer a quiet mouth and a listening ear.