"... a time to keep silence"*

Spiritual resource to share: integrity

It seems the more experienced I become in dealing with relationships, the more I learn the lesson of keeping silent.

At times when I want to blurt out some injustice and take someone to task for it, keeping silent has saved me from some pretty embarrrassing situations.

Now, I am not advocating ignoring situations that need to be brought out in the open, or dismissing our responsibility to speak up when needed. But when dealing with relationships where there is some kind of problem, keeping silent may be a good place to start the healing process.

Keeping silent many times has helped me to:

• step back from an emotionally charged situation
• given me space to prayerfully examine the whole picture
• given me space to stretch my understanding of God's governance of the situation: trusting Truth to reveal whatever needs healing, trusting Love to work in each individual's consiousness and trusting Principle to bring things out in an orderly and logical way.

MBEddy writes in her autobiography, "The best spiritual type of Christly method for uplifting human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary power, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual ideal is made our own, it becomes the model for human action."

There was a time early in my marriage when I felt a strong attraction to another person. It made no sense, I was happy in my marriage, but this attraction seemed mutual and compelling even though nothing happened between us. But I felt that the only way to break this spell was to confront this person directly. As I continued to pray, I realized that this was not the way to go. I saw that this compelling attraction was nothing more than a type of mesmerism. I could rest in our spiritual foundation of integrity and purity to burst through that dark cloud. And it did. The next day, I felt totally free of this attraction. And so did this other person.

Keeping silent and working this situation out prayerfully with God was needed in this situation. It also helped to move a small ego (me) out of the way and made room for divine Love to work. In the space of silence, I was able to turn my desires over to a higher law:

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

*"...a time to keep silence...." from Ecclesiastes 3: 7


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