In this season of Lent, there’s a lot of talk about whether or not to give something up. It’s been two years of deprivation, some argue, so why would God want us to sacrifice anything else? In light of what’s going on in Ukraine, shouldn’t we stay present on social media rather than going quiet for forty days?

God does not mandate that we observe Lent, so Christians are free to observe—or not observe—as their consciences and traditions lead them. For those who feel compelled to remember the gravity of Christ’s death through the practice of fasting, Rachel C. Varghese has an important reminder: what fills us matters.

In “Not Much to Say These Days? Find Silence Welcomed Here,” Varghese explores the idea of silence as something that can nourish us in a way that something like social media cannot.

“When the world is heavy and the air feels thick, what if we chose to stop filling our minds with our feeds?” Varghese writes. “What if we allow silence and give others and ourselves space to breathe?”

There is a time to speak on behalf of the oppressed, and that time is often. But perhaps in this time that leads us to Easter and the joyful chorus of the resurrection, we might find comfort in the face of the world’s pain by choosing, just for a moment, to set aside the noise and be filled with holy silence.