Be still and know that I am God.

PSALM 46:10 (NIV)

It was evening, and I was on my way home. The road stretched out ahead of me, quiet and almost empty—the kind of quiet that makes you more aware of your own thoughts. I didn’t turn on the radio. I just drove. The hum of the tires filled the silence as the sky began to fade from orange to gray. It had been a long day, one of those days when I showed up for everyone else but had nothing left for myself.

The silence felt heavy at first, but familiar. There was a time in my life when silence was my only companion. I used to show up in rooms with a smile, doing my best to appear fine, while inside I carried battles no one could see. My laughter worked like a disguise, covering the noise I couldn’t explain. Those memories came rushing back as the road carried me forward.

The more I drove, the more I realized how much silence had taught me. It slowed me when I wanted to rush. It made me think when I wanted to avoid. It brought me face-to-face with the things I tried to bury beneath busyness. Silence wouldn’t let me skip the lessons I needed to learn, and though it was uncomfortable, it was sacred in its own way.

We often treat silence like an enemy, but maybe it’s a teacher. When was the last time you sat in stillness without trying to fix something, distract yourself, or rush to the next thing? Sometimes silence reveals the truth you’ve been too busy to hear. One strategy I’ve adopted in meetings is to let silence create space for people to reflect and think. I’ll admit, it can feel awkward, but it almost always invites someone to step up and share their perspective. We need similar moments in our own lives, where the awkward quiet gives us room to sit with our thoughts and produce something meaningful.

Looking back, I see that silence built something in me that words couldn’t. It strengthened my patience. It gave me the courage to sit with my own thoughts. It showed me that strength isn’t always seen or heard. It is often developed in quiet places, on drives like this one, when the world doesn’t demand performance, only presence.

The lessons I gained in silence became the strength I carried when it was time to speak.

Some of life’s greatest answers will be provided when no one else is talking.

Keep moving forward,

Dr. Key