I came upon this after a paritcularly noisy weekend, it was in an old book of meditations that my grandmother loved, Springs in the Valley: "The greatest forces in nature are quiet ones." The example given was the law of gravitation -- no sound, but utterly sure and powerful. Another example: the center of a whirlpool where waters surge madly, but in the center, there is stillness.

I think of the ability to stay calm and caring in the face of anger and mistreatment, to choose not to speak when harsh words come rushing at us. This world is so noisy, and yet we're made, I believe, to need peace. Mary E. Shannon wrote, "We need not be noisy if we are sure."