Note: Happy Valentine’s Day! I have come to learn over the years to be more comfortable with silences in a relationship, either earthly ones, or the one God has with me. I think now that this is a sign of maturity and of being comfortable together. Early in a relationship, when you’re just starting out, you’re full of questions about each other and there can be long phone calls, multiple emails or texts each day, or (way back in the day) daily letters mailed. But sometimes you’re able to reach a point where it’s good to be sitting together silently watching the frogs in the pond, or sharing the couch while you’re both reading and the cat snoozes in between you, or walking together through the woods while you give the birds and insects a chance to share what’s been going on in their lives.

Quote: “My sense is that the mystery of silence draws us deeper into love, and love is something that we cannot control; love invites us into fresh ways of thinking and unfamiliar ways of being.

“Fundamentally, love is at the heart of our Christian faith tradition. God is love, and in consenting to silence, we allow Love to wash over us, inviting us into a ‘new we,’ a new kind of community that affirms the divine imprint within all humanity and contributes to building the kind of world we all want to live in.” (p. 164)

Source: Heuertz, Christopher L. The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2017, page 164.