I’ve been enforcing radio silence lately.  I am, or perhaps more accurately, was an avid NPR listener, and as I have driven probably 30,000 miles in the past year, I have plenty of opportunity to listen to the radio.  There would be days were I would listen to the radio for 6 or more hours in the day as I drove to a job site near Bloomington, or Illinois.  So when the day came that I turned off the radio and didn’t turn it back on, it was a dramatic shift.

It is a common discipline in Christian circles to have quiet time, and I’ve found that many people find that quiet time while driving.  I’ve not been doing great at making use of the quiet time that I have created by turning off the radio, but I certainly have it available to me.  I have found some peace in not knowing what is going on in the world at large around me, because frankly, there is so much going on that it has been overwhelming to me.  Especially as I have proposed marriage to my fiance, I found the news frustrating and concerning.  If Sam and I are blessed with children, what sort of world will they be growing up in?  It doesn’t seem like the world is full of very much good these days.  So I have enjoyed being disconnected from disconcerting news.

I’m not sure it is the most peaceful thing I can be doing however.

If you’ve read any number of my 25 Days of Peace posts in the past, you’ll know that I am constantly wrestling with 2 sides of peace.  There is an internal peace, a satisfaction in your soul with the way things are in you, and there is an external peace, a peace that is reflected in your surroundings and your sphere of influence.  I can be both at peace and at war simultaneously, and not be in paradox.

I think that as I focus more and more on peace, I find that is where I need to be.  At peace internally, while I am at war externally.   There will be times where my balance will be shifted more towards one or the other, but the goal is to be constantly re-balancing.

When I turned my radio off, I was seeking more internal peace.  Now I find that I’m disconnected from the war raging around me, and I am starting to hear the call to re-engage.

While I’ve enjoyed the radio silence, it is time for another re-balancing.

Be sure to check out the other people on the journey with me at 254peace.org, or on our Facebook page.  There are some awesome people participating this year, and they all have something important to say.