I'm beginning to learn that silence is okay. Sometimes, when praying over the phone with a dear brother, there'd be an extended period of silence. In these moments, I'd find my spirit welling up with joy and peace, yet my mind would say, "self, why is it so quiet. i mean, it's sort of weird, being on the phone and not saying anything .. maybe you should just do something ..." In retrospect, I'm now understanding that those moments of silence are more than just acceptable, they're often the better thing - just as Mary sat at her precious Lord's feet doing nothing but listening, loving, and being loved. "A time honored practice for entering the Prayer of Rest is silence, or the stilling within ourselves of what others have called 'creaturely activity.' ... this means not so much a silence of words as a silence of our grasping, manipulative control of people and situations. It means standing firm against our codependency drives to control everyone and fix everything. This agitated creaturely activity hinders the work of God in us. In silencio, therefore, we still every motion that is not rooted in God. We become quiet, hushed, motionless, until we are finally centered ... We let go of all distractions until we are driven into the Core. We allow God to reshuffle our priorities and eliminate unnecessary froth." - Richard Foster