I woke up this morning with a song in my head – “When You Say Nothing at All.” But more on that in a bit…
As I said in my post a couple days ago, I believe I’ve learned a few things over the years. If you know me, you know that I have a few opinions about… well, about a lot of things. And although I truly do enjoy a healthy debate, in my work as a chaplain I’ve worked quite hard at honest, truthful, and caring listening. So when I consciously take the time to be still, to be quiet, and gently listen to what’s going on in the world, I’m amazed. I’m amazed at the deafening volume (quantity as well as decibels) of noise in our lives that truly prevents a listening person from hearing much of anything. Fortunately for me, most of my listening work is with individuals; police, fire and EMS professionals who also appreciate time of peace, quiet and good conversation. But when we step out into the world, the noise is overwhelming.
So as I venture into the world of sharing information, sharing stories of my work in pastoral/chaplaincy care, serving government institutions and public safety agencies… yes, those volatile topics of politics and religion all wrapped into one… it scares me. Yes, what I’m most afraid of in this new venture of blogging, podcasts, and a few other formats, is that I’ll just end up adding to the noise without offering anything of value. The last thing this world needs is more noise.
So, back to the song in my head. In order to bring a little less noise into the world, I suggest you check out the song’s lyrics and look for the quiet in the song. I found quiet in a few simple phrases – The smile on your face… There’s a truth in your eyes… A touch of your hand… maybe if we all tried a few of these ways to express ourselves a little more often, maybe we too could learn to say it best, when we say nothing at all.
With Care, Chaplain Dan
