There is this interesting story of a man and his wife who had some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. It so happens that the man needed to be awakened early one morning to catch a business flight, but he didn’t want to be the first to break the silence...(surely because of pride), so he left a note on his wife’s side of the bed reading “Please wake me at 5am.”
By the time sunshine roused him the next morning, it was some minutes after 9am. In anger, he threw back his cover cloth and shouted to his wife (who was nowhere to be found), “Why didn’t you wake me up like I asked you to?”(forgetting he didn't ask her but rather wrote it) He then looks to his side of the bed and finds stuck to the lamp, a note in his wife’s handwriting that read, “It is 5am. Time to wake up.”
Dear reader, it doesn’t take much to make us angry and create emotional distance from each other. But it does take great, courageous effort to fight through the silence to a place of true forgiveness and oneness. Isolation seems to offer us protection, a certain kind of self-preservation. There is a type of peace found in avoidance that appears much more appealing than the pain of dealing with reality. We sometimes end up hurting ourselves and even draw negative conclusions based on what we see and hear.
Being silent makes one feel secured, as if you are in a security blanket on a rainy day. The fact is, silence is one of Satan’s most deadly disguises he uses to mess up good things up in our homes,churches,work, society and among friends. The silent treatment is extremely deceptive and ultimately destructive.
When you find yourself tempted to square off against each other, retreating to your corners and refusing to give in, remember that Jesus could have given us the cold shoulder. He could have taken one look at our many, many sins and shortcomings and never sought to draw us out. May His reaching, redemptive love be our model and motivator. We serve a God who both seeks and speaks. To be a true friend, brother, sister, spouse or colleague be sure to do the same. Do enjoy the security blanket,open up.
Silence is golden but it’s a destructive tool the devil is using lately.
DON'T BE A VICTIM!!!
