Author’s Note -This is my last church newsletter contribution until the fall. As always, if this kind of post isn’t your thing, feel free to skip it. It won’t bother me at all.

Listen to yourself and in the quietude, you might hear the voice of God—-Maya Angelou

When Maya Angelou was a child, she was brutally raped by her mother’s boyfriend. After she reported it, the man escaped jail time, only to be murdered by one of her relatives. Having learned the power words have to hurt and kill, Ms. Angelou stopped speaking and was a mute for six years. In that time, she learned to listen to the music and magic of language, which she later claimed helped her become a poet. We don’t have to suffer trauma, however, to find God’s voice in silence. Instead, we can consciously seek it out in much the same way Jesus did when he withdrew from his followers to pray and meditate on God’s word. In today’s fast paced world, it may seem impossible to disconnect and listen to the silence as Ms. Angelou suggested, but when we allow it to become part of our worship, our hearts and minds are cleared of everyday clutter and temptation. We can hear God’s voice more clearly and in the quietude, we can find and follow the path He has given us.