Before we determine what God wants to hear from us, we need to think about keeping still in order to hear from God. Our culture is drowning in noise. Such a culture cries out for a ministry of silence. It needs to re-learn that silence is an indispensible discipline of the spiritual life . . . to discover the voice of Love speaks most powerfully in the still small voice of silence.
Conversation was never begun at once, nor in a hurried manner. No one was quick with a question, no matter how important, and no one was pressed for an answer. A pause giving time for thought was the truly courteous way of beginning and conducting a conversation. Silence was meaningful with the Lakota, and their granting a space of silence to the speech-makers and their own moment of silence before talking was done in the practice of true politeness, listening, and regard for the rule, "thought comes before speech."