Elizabeth Barrett Browning in her poem “Substitution” pens that there are times when nothing meaningful can fill the silence. It is then that she begs in her last line: “Speak THOU, availing Christ!—and fill this pause.” We’ve all had times of boredom, emptiness, a feeling of meaninglessness or hopelessness. We might look for something to excite us or fill us or at least give us something to look forward to. Some thing might be a bit helpful momentarily. What our hearts really need and want is God to caulk our holes. So call out “Speak THOU, availing Christ—and fill this pause.”