And the Thunders get Silent

All great and precious things are lonely. – John Steinbeck

I want to be a little personal about some things that happen to me when I get a hold on an idea. Most ideas come to me with a spark. Some thundering in my heart that produces some zing that electrifies and makes me feel that it is impossible to fail if I venture into it. This phase is important for me because the possibility of the idea coming to life is totally dependent on whether or not I am excited about it.

Immediately after this phase I face a deafening silence. A silence of thought. A silence of ideas. A silence of action – or inaction. I look at my idea and it suddenly does not look as revolutionary as it did days earlier. If you have pursued a goal and achieved it or failed at it you would have experienced what I am describing.

I think it is the loneliness that engulfed David in the caves of Adullam. Imagine him sitting derelict in cave frustrated of having run from the king for weeks and hearing those words from a prophet whose words never fail ring in his heart: “Send for him [David], for we will not sit down to eat until he is here.” If he was to be king why have the thunders held their peace? Why are trumpets sounds not welcoming his every move?

The same can be said of Joseph. His dream showed glory but unfortunately didn’t show him the dry well or servant life or prisons. Sitting in the midst of silent thunders he would look back and wonder if he dreamed it right.

All achievers must survive the silence of thunders. Your dreams will pass through this phase. If it will come to pass you too must survive this phase holding on to your dreams.

        I will keep my eyes on my goal. A friend once told me the way up is a lonely boring way. Though I love to change the images such words give me, I know from my experience that it is indeed lonely and boring. But if my dreams will see the light of day I must believe in them when no one else does. I must hold them firmly and closely while I survive the silence that comes after the thunders.