Silence is Golden

Silence is GOLDEN or so they say….

Unless you have a newborn and are tiptoeing to their crib to check that they are breathing.

It is bliss…

Unless you have a toddler who is known to sneak off and get into mischief.

It is needed…

Unless you have a preschooler that is so wrapped up in a screen that they have blocked out the world.

It is wonderful…

Unless your elementary age child is filled with anxiety and worry.

It is refreshing…

Unless your teen is blocking you out of their world, living for the moment, and not considering the consequences.

It can be comfortable…

Unless your marriage has grown stale and needs a breath of fresh air.

I have spent many moments holding my breath and silently checking that each of my 9 babies were ‘just sleeping soundly’. I have paid my dues cleaning up the permanent marker, orange craft paint, and calling poison control. I have said more times than I can count, “only 30 minutes on that IPad!” I have reassured children at bedtime that even though life is hard, it will be okay and they have nothing to fear…not in the dark or the light. I have spent years 20 years praying over my teens and trying to remember not to take their attitudes as personal attacks. So far we have had 6 teens and each one came with a different challenge but not one came with an instruction manual. I have also been a wife for over 30 years. Many of those years were filled with challenges, failures on both our parts, daily stress, and long nights.

It seems that silence is not really the house we want to live in. It is really LONELY in the middle of a crowd. It is individuals functioning as islands rather than a family functioning as a team. It is isolation in the worst kind of way. Ideally the very thing we often beg for is what we really do not want. Gratefully our house is never quiet for very long. We are loud, boisterous voices that are joking, playing, and even fussing, but we are a family that is doing that together.