There’s something about the quietness of snow that is overwhelmingly refreshing to me. It seems to warrant the conscious elimination of the usual noises of my life. The music that often hums in the background is turned off. The new podcasts in my library are left untouched. The television screen remains black and empty.
The kind of silence we’re left with on days like today is a rare gem in our culture. But while I think we know it’s good for us, there’s a sense in which it can make us uncomfortable. Perhaps the chaos of our environment is actually reflective of the constant motion of our thoughts, the business that’s rooted deep in our essence. Our souls are so crowded with noise that when the margin for quiet comes along, it feels out of place. And we don’t quite know what to do with it.
Lately it seems as though someone has dialed the volume to its maximum level in my life, and maybe you feel the same way. Both great joy and great sorrow surround me. We celebrate new life. We grieve imminent death. We rejoice in restored health. We groan in crippling sickness. It’s all noisy, and it’s fitting. There are times for unrestrained songs of celebration, and there are times for unrestrained songs of lament.
And then there are moments when nothing but stillness and quietness appear to be appropriate. The prophet Habakkuk reminds us of the worthlessness of our false gods and then proclaims “But the LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him.” (Habakkuk 2:20). When was the last time we were awestruck by our God to the point of being speechless? My mind tends to automatically categorize worship as the hearing of God’s Word or singing or serving with other believers. But worship today might just look like marveling at the works of His hands in silence. It might look like quieting ourselves before Him, turning down the noise in our houses and in our hearts.
This snow day is your open invitation. This is your Creator’s call for you to find not only rest and Sabbath, but more specifically, quietness. Wherever you find yourself, embrace the silence that the snow brings, even in the midst of the demands of your job or the excitement of your kids or whatever the case may be for you. See it as an extension of His grace to you today.
Cultivate. 