Holding Your Tongue

The phrase is one that we hear and know but few of us actually practice. As I'm preparing for a new class tonight I've been thinking about what it means to not speak. When I go away to the monastery on retreat I go to a place that practices silence. It is a time a refreshment and stillness that restores my soul.
Now the problem is that I don't keep watch over my tongue in the same way when I'm around other people. If I'm going to get into trouble with folks it is usually because I speak without thinking and what I say is taken in the wrong way or I speak to bluntly for the situation. I'm learning in small ways and over a lot of time that every thought that comes into my head does not need to be expressed.
This is where the practice of silence or holding ones tongue comes into play. It is the practice of listening rather than speaking. It is about allowing the time to speak words that are thought out rather than blurted out. It is the willingness to consider the feelings of others and not wanting to offend.
Now a couple of things that silence is not. It is not withholding words of correction. It isn't an excuse to allow a brother or sister to do things that might hurt them or others because you don't want to offend or anger them. It isn't about withholding information from others when it might help them.
Silence is something that most of us aren't really comfortable with, but it is a discipline that will allow us to experience the God's grace and presence in ways that we have never been able to in the past.

In the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19 we see the power of God coming to the prophet in the stillness and we too can hear the voice of God if we learn to be quiet and listen.