The Power of Silence

by Kari Diane Pike

If you read my last two posts, you already know that things are just a little bit crazy around here. School, soccer, music lessons, and seven extra temporary residents make for lots of commotion. Add the cockatoo who likes to imitate a pterodactyl and a dog who howls in pain when said bird screams, to strains of piano, violin, and cello arpeggios, and you have a glimpse of life in the Pike house right now.

This morning when I picked up my scriptures and began to read, the words in the very first verse of 3 Nephi 10 captured my mind.

"And after these sayings there was silence in the land for the space of many hours;"

After complete destruction and utter darkness, and howling and weeping, the voice of Christ spoke to the survivors. In their amazement, the people stopped howling and then there was silence for many hours. Wow. Then Christ spoke again. And I began to wonder why. Why the silence for many hours?

I pondered on the other occasions when Christ stood silent. When the Pharisees (John 8:6) brought the adulteress to Christ and accused her, Jesus with his finger wrote on the ground and said nothing "as though he heard them not." "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one...and Jesus was left alone..."

In Mark 14: 61 - Jesus is falsely accused, "But he held his peace, and answered nothing."

Mark 15: 3, 5 - Where Pilate has decreed the death of Jesus and the chief priests question and accuse Jesus, "but he answered nothing."

Luke 23: 8, 9 - Herod questions Jesus hoping to see one of the great miracles about which he had heard, but "[Jesus] answered him nothing."

I marvel at the example that Christ set for us. There is a time and a place to speak out and there is a time to be silent. Jesus does not condemn us. We do that all on our own. The one perfect person who could have defended his actions chose to be silent and let those around him choose their own path.

So why the long silence in the New World? Have you ever noticed how the power of being silent can dissipate anger and contention? The Spirit is quiet, yet can he can pierce your heart. Today, I am going to practice being quiet and feel the energy of the Holy Spirit.