"The silence of God you hear in the midst of storms - can be the deep intimacy of God falling all around you, an intimacy that is beyond words - that will carry you through and beyond this storm." ~ from "Steadfast Love" by Lauren Chandler

“Jesus’ words ‘Pray unceasingly for the strength to survive all that is going to happen and to stand with confidence’ are of crucial importance for us in these days. Prayer should be our first concern. Without prayer even our ‘good busyness’ will lead to our destruction…. Never forget the words: ‘In the world you will have trouble but be brave, I have overcome the world.’ Every time you spend silent time in your prayer room, you celebrate Christ’s victory over the world (over death, over the evil one) and allow yourself to taste already now the peace that comes from this victory. It is so important for the people around you to see that peace of Christ reflected in your eyes, your hands and your words. There is more power in that than all your teaching and organizing. That is the truth we need to keep telling each other.” ~ HenriNouwen

"As we develop the practice of silent prayer in our lives we will grow in faith and learn to trust God more and more. It will become easier as we let our guard down and allow God to love the real us ... " ~ from "God Knows the Real Us" - New Way Today

NOT AT EVERY moment of our lives, Heaven knows, but at certain rare moments of greenness and stillness, we are shepherded by the knowledge that though all is far from right with any world you and I know anything about, all is right deep down. All will be right at last. I suspect that is at least part of what "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness" is all about. It means righteousness not just in the sense of doing right but in the sense of being right—being right with God, trusting the deep-down rightness of the life God has created for us and in us, and riding that trust the way a red-tailed hawk rides the currents of the air in this valley where we live. I suspect that the paths of righteousness he leads us in are more than anything else the paths of trust like that and the kind of life that grows out of that trust. I think that is the shelter he calls us to with a bale in either hand when the wind blows bitter and the shadows are dark.

Frederick Beuchner
- Originally published in "The Clown in the Belfry"

"In each one of us there is an innate yearning, which can only be discerned and realized when we slow down from our own business and busyness and understand that we all want something more. God speaks in the silence of our hearts. Therefore, you have to “attend with the ear of your heart” to what God is calling you to. " ~ St. Benedict

"A quiet time isn't about performing for God. It's about being with God." ~ Joanna Weaver