I was out for a walk the other day. I heard a few cars, a train in the distance, then several dogs harmonizing. Eventually my thoughts drowned out all sound and I began to think my Jeff thoughts (scary!)
Now, oblivious to the world around me, I was still capable of going for a walk without thinking about walking. I have a regular route that I walk, so I didn’t even need to think about “where” I was walking.
I was nearly back at home when I heard it; or at least when I realized that I was hearing it. It was a sound that we perhaps do not often think of as a sound. It was the sound of silence. Those of you who are old enough, or a big enough music fan, will remember that old Simon and Garfunkel song by the same title, “The Sound of Silence.” I guess I’ve never truly thought of silence in those terms before; I mean as an actual sound. The point is that in this moment, I realized that there was what seemed to me, total silence. It was then that I remembered another time when this silence had been around me. I was on a hunting trip and I spent a few days in the wilderness. Although there were other hunters around and infrequent automobiles that could be heard in the distance, there were no sounds except those that nature makes. Nature, it seems, is largely quite. There are exceptions, like storms and earthquakes and volcanoes, but mostly, it’s just quiet.
When I returned home after that trip, I noticed that I had become very sensitive to sound. Common sounds like radios, TV’s, traffic, all now sounded like roaring in my ears; ears which had now become sensitive.
This new moment, on my morning walk, helped me to recognize the sound that I had been hearing throughout most of that hunting trip: The sound of silence. I decided in that moment that it had become one of my favorite sounds.
Seconds later, I heard a bird singing a lovely tune; nice. Then, silence again, it was broken by the wonderful sound of children playing outside at recess at the nearby elementary school; beautiful. I arrived home and went in. There was no one home, silence again; nice. The phone rang, a friend’s voice, cool! Silence has become a favorite sound among favorite sounds. Alone, it is empty. It is because there are choices, that we may find our favorite. Most have made several choices before they’ve found God. Others are still searching. They, like us, will have to “hear” the other choices in order to find the best one, God. Blessings

• BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
• « SAFETY
• » THE ROOSTER’S CROW

• BROWSE / IN Newsletter
• « SAFETY
• » THE ROOSTER’S CROW