All I Want for Christmas is Quiet!

Thursday, December 15, 2011 by Katie McCoy

It’s ironic that a season filled with songs like “Joy to the World,” and “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” is accompanied with headlines like “8 Tips to Beat Holiday Stress” and “Secrets to Surviving the Holidays.” Truth be told, after you’ve prepared the last holiday party dish, braved the last post-Thanksgiving parking lot, and plodded through the last out-the-door check-out line the only thing left to find on your Christmas to-do list might be some peace and quiet!

Particularly during the Christmas season, our days can be inundated with noise. For many of us, the constant clamor can be depleting. In fact, one study examined the effects of noise on our nervous systems and found that chronic noise – even at a low volume – can lead to negative moods, low concentration and fatigue. Sound a little like your Christmas preparation? With the hub of busy malls, the tinkling of high-pitched bells, the blaring horn of impatient drivers, and hearing yet another rendition of “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” in the background, no wonder we sometimes need a holiday from holidays! Even the most talented, multi-tasking, Christmas-party-planning, online-shopping diva will eventually be running on empty without the renewal that comes from quieting her heart and tuning in to her Creator.

This season, we reflect on the reality of the Word who “became flesh and dwelt among us.” (Jn 1:14) The Word who came to us is the One who “spoke and it came to be,” (Ps. 33:9), who “calls into being the things that do not exist,” (Rm 4:17) and who upholds you, me, and the entire universe by the word of His power (Hb 1:3). And, as A.W. Tozer explains, The Word still speaks to us today. “God is speaking. Not God spoke, but God is speaking…It is the nature of God to speak.” (The Pursuit of God)

The Word still speaks above and through all of the noise. But do our lives allow us to hear Him? It’s easy to be tuned out and not realize it. Even in prayer, we can find ourselves filling the silence with words, forgetting to “Be silent in the presence of the Lord God.” (Zeph 1:7) Even Jesus – the Word Himself – withdrew from the noise to a solitary place when He talked with the Father (Matt 14:13). When we talk with God, are we silent enough to listen?

In his book, The Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster shows how practicing silence and solitude is not just for Himalayan monks. For the Christian woman, it’s an attitude of the heart, a lifestyle of “de-cluttering” the day so that she can hear God more clearly. He says our need for quiet goes even deeper than getting away from outside noise. Pursuing God with this kind of solitary silence always involves actively listening to God. “Simply to refrain from talking, without a heart listening to God, is not silence.” Our need to quiet our hearts and listen doesn’t go away when the Christmas cards are mailed and the lights are taken down. The command of Psalm 46:10 to “Be still and know that I am God,” is a year-long challenge. The well-known missionary Jim Elliot once said, “I think the devil has made it his business to monopolize on three elements: noise, hurry, crowds…Satan is quite aware of the power of silence.”

How can we practically cultivate a lifestyle of inner quietness this Christmas? One way is to seize those moments that Foster calls “little solitudes.”  Maybe it’s turning the radio off during the car commute to work, or leave the TV off when working around the house. Even a 30-second elevator ride can be an opportunity to clear your mind and actively focus on God, ready to listen to what He would tell you. Also, you can take advantage of your morning routine. Instead of having the news on or music going, get ready for the day with no other noise in the background. Start the day with a verse, or even an attribute or name of God and let it steep into your soul as you meditate on God’s character and Word. You’ll begin the day in an attitude that is ready to listen. The moments to be still and know that He is God are all around us. “They are times for inner quiet, for reorienting our lives like a compass needle,” (Foster). One mother of five said that, even for her, moments of quietness and solitude are in every day. It’s just a matter of choosing to redeem them.

So before the stress turns you into a Scrooge, be still…tune in…and listen. The Word is still speaking.

Katie McCoy is pursuing a Doctorate in Systematic Theology at Southwestern Seminary. When she’s not studying for her classes (a rare occasion!), she loves hanging out with friends, eating sushi, learning new words and is currently a political news junkie. Connect with Katie on Facebook or Follow her Twitter!