Are You Worried That Your Thoughts Are Not Quite Clear?

We fear so deeply what we think other people see in us, so we talk in order to straighten out their understanding. ... One of the fruits of silence is the freedom to let our justification rest entirely with God.

- Richard Foster

(On Thursdays I'm going to try to write about god/faith/spiritual things to get me in a community group mindset)

I have three pages of Sojo quotes, but as I read through them again and again this short quotation lingers in my head.

We talk to straighten out others' understanding.
Freedom.
Justification rests with God.
Rests.
Justification RESTS.

I find myself recently trying to justify so many of my life choices and, even more so, the emotions and feelings that are stirred up inside me. Justify...to prove to be right and reasonable.

Yet there is absolutely no way I can prove to the world that anything that I do is right and reasonable.

Justification with God? It's the opposite. I am always put right with God. I don't need to prove myself to be right or, worse, reasonable. Everything with God is mended, everything put straight, every aspect of the relationship set right...before I even have to ask.

My justification can simply rest. I do not need to prove myself to God. It is time for me to be silent, to stop overexplaining. God understands. Our relationship is right, it is made perfect in fact. That should be enough for me...enough for me to learn to enjoy the silence.