Lenten Reflection

​Lent invites us into a season of stripping away (or intentionally taking on something)— of examining what we carry, what we consume, and what we put into the world. For those of us who work in communications, this season holds a particular mirror up to our craft.

We live in an era of constant input and output. Emails, posts, announcements, campaigns,...then more emails, posts, etc. Words are produced at volume and often at speed. It is easy, in this work, to become fluent in noise...and accustomed to it. I speak for myself, but imagine it's similar for a lot of us, when I say silence has begun to feel uncomfortable for me. The world is so loud yet I find myself being anxious in silence. So I fill it.

Whether it's filled with background noise, my voice or others the silence doesn't last long. In a world where doing nothing often feels like the greatest sin, I find myself filling the silence with whatever words I can find...because it at least looks like I'm doing something...and something is better than not doing anything.

But Lent has invited me to find a different perspective: Whether in work or in my personal life, are the words I'm communicating with, being used with intention or just the drive to once again fill up the silence? What is the purpose of me communicating?

Most of the time, I communicate to exchange information. But that can't be all it is for. If not, then what is it for?

What is communicating inviting us to participate in other than exchanging information? Perhaps to understand? And if to understand is the purpose, then perhaps we need to spend more time on one thing with more intentionality.

This isn't a new concept to me, and probably not to most of us. But how many of us actually put this into practice? Admittedly, as soon as I cross one thing off my list, I tend to add 3 more in its place. All of which I want to start immediately.

Lent's invitation, perhaps to more than just myself, involves taking time to slow down, embrace the lingering silence and when that silence bleeds into noise to do so intentionally. Maybe that looks like taking out your earbuds on during your commute one morning? Perhaps it looks like taking a break during the work day, to go outside and see if you can find one of your neighborhood's native birds? Maybe it's just waking up and not immediately entering the noise of life, but just holding onto to the silence for an extra few minutes.

May this season be a personal invitation to embrace the silence — even just for a moment. To linger a little longer before filling it. And when words do come, to let them be chosen, not just reached for.

Jasmine Coles
Communications & Operations Associate