“Silence is golden.” My professor used to always say that in one of my filmmaking classes. In other words, “you don’t have to talk ALL the time!” I really couldn’t agree more. And not just because I don’t talk a lot, but because sometimes there really aren’t words for the situation.
Sometimes I can’t find the words to comfort. Sometimes a comeback is unnecessary. Sometimes, words just won’t get the job done, but silence will.
I was reading Job 13 yesterday, and verse 5 stood out to me:
If only you could be silent! That’s the wisest thing you could do.
Job had had enough of the accusations and unhelpful speech. He was at a breaking point where nothing anyone could say was going to help. And it just so happened that nothing anyone was saying was helping anyway.
Silence is wisdom when the timing of it is right. So don’t feel bad if you feel like you can’t find the right words. It just might be that no words are right.