They have made a noise ... "(Lamentations 2:7a).

Several years ago I decided one day to peruse a back issue of the Congressional Record, a most interesting document that we get in our library. Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie was the Chaplain of the Senate at the time. I started reading his prayer and decided to copy it since I am an apostle of silence. We live in a world that is plastered with noise. My friends tell me that I am becoming a fanatic about the noise we can't seem to ignore because it assaults us on every side.

I would like to share this wonderful prayer:

"Dear Father, Our lives are polluted with noise. The blaring sounds of a noisy society bombard our ears and agitate our souls. The television set is seldom turned off. We turn on our car radio at the same time we turn the ignition key. Music is piped into everywhere we go, from the grocery to the gym. On the streets, horns blare, tires screech, and tempers flare. Meanwhile, people around us talk constantly trying to find out what they want to say in the welter of words. It's so easy to lose the art of being quiet. Even in this quiet moment, our minds are racing, our nervous systems are on red alert and we're like sprinters waiting for the starter's gun to go off. Calm us down, Lord, so we can work creatively today.

Lord, we hear Your voice saying, "Peace, be still." We want the miracle of that stillness and accept it as Your gift. We breathe out the tension and breathe in the breath of Your spirit. In this time of prayer speak to us the whisper of Your love and assurance, grace, and guidance. Get us ready for a day in which we can be still inside while living in a noisy world. In the name of our Lord and Saviour. Amen."

Isaiah 30:15 tells us, "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." There is no way on this blathering, blasting earth we can enter the Heart of God unless we go to the Mountaintop with Jesus! That means shutting off the computers (yes, Pat, you too!), TVS, radios, telephones and all the other paraphernalia that shouts at us.