Silence

In Psalm 46:10 God encourages us to, "Be still and know that I am God..." Sometimes I try to be stationary and silent to know God better. Whether watching the sunset or squirrels frolicking across the street, it works. I feel closer to my Creator when I am inactive and listen.

I remember my senior year of high school as if it were 53 years ago. I transferred that fall (1966) from my New Orleans public school to Harding Academy in Searcy, Arkansas. I was destined to enroll at the college the next year. I lived in a campus dorm. Since my parents didn't move with me, I was ineligible for participation in interscholastic sports. I did serve as manager. My love of music and an ability to carry a tune in a bucket qualified me for singing the bass part in the academy's chorus. It became the highlight of my senior year.

One of my fondest memories is opening our choral performances singing the hymn The Lord Is in His Holy Temple. We immediately repeated it humming softly as someone recited the poem In Silence:

In silence comes all loveliness.

The dawn is ever still.

No noise accompanies the dew

That glistens on the hill.

The sunrise comes up quietly;

The moon is never heard.

And love that animates the eye

Surpasses any word.

And prayer is best in solitude.

It seems so very odd

That long before I did not know

In silence I'd find God.

This poem is still very special to me. I remembered most of the words even five decades later, but I was unsure of the precise rendition. Thanks to Google, I discovered the original version and its author Marianne Moore (1887-1972). She was a modernist poet of her era. Thanks to God, Marianne, and Google for help as I composed this blog.  In Silence is public domain. Use it as you wish when you search in silence for God.

Squirrels

As a child did you ever play the game "imagine you are an animal?" What kind would you be? I did play. Sometimes I still play. I like to start my day listening to an audio version of the Bible. My wife and I sit in our living room recliners and focus on 2-3 chapters most mornings. I confess to being easily distracted. My seat is strategically placed to view the front yard and the neighbor's very large tree just across the street. On sunny mornings there can be up to five squirrels rummaging in the grass searching for home building materials or breakfast. They chase one another up, down, and around the tree's trunk. I enjoy watching their antics and acrobatics as they scurry limb to limb. On mornings such as these, I think I might like being a squirrel.

Then one morning we saw a large, ugly buzzard-type bird in the middle of our street. Upon closer examination it was eating road kill...a low-IQ squirrel that just happened to lose a game of chicken with a fast-moving vehicle. I like the way squirrels play. I never said they are always smart about where they do it.