I go to the woods along the water to breathe in the quiet.
That’s why it always surprises me how many joggers, bikers and walkers have music piped into their ears as they traverse the path. How much they miss, as Anne Shirley would say.
Because it isn’t really quiet. As I revel in the “silence” of the woods, I listen:
The crunching of the leaves as I walk the path.
The melody of the birds in conversation.
The thwack as black walnuts bounce off the ground.
The scratching scamper of the squirrels climbing trees.
The quivering drone of the bugs.
The faint fphump, fphump of the wings of the startled blue heron.
The singing of the creek over the rocks.
The gentle whirring as the fly line unspools.
The footsteps pounding the boards of the covered bridge.
And yes, the distant sound of traffic on the highway.
It all speaks to me.
Of the need to slow down and be.
Of the rhythms God placed in the earth that I’m foolish to try to control and should instead learn from.
Of the value of rest and relaxation.
Of the unity of creation as God planned it.
Of my own need for community and communication.
I leave refreshed, reminded of how imperative it is to listen. To nature. To other people. To God.
This morning I was reading in I Samuel chapter 3, where God is calling Samuel. Eli instructs him to answer, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
I need to be quiet enough to hear the call—in the woods, in my head, in my home, in my heart. For I want God to speak. And I want to be still enough to listen for what comes next.
Are you too plugged in to listen?
It’s so true! Not only do we miss nature sounds but we miss God’s voice when we are plugged in. God speaks to me when I’m walking in the woods, pulling weeds in the flowerbeds, hanging up the wash, etc. These times are times for him to speak to me but me to speak to him. It’s in these times where I get my inspirations or answer to prayers.
I enjoyed my visit to your blog. 🙂
Thanks, Susan, for visiting the blog. I, too, often find my best listening to and opening of my heart to God when among nature.
I always feel closer to God when out in nature. I think that you are right, though. It isn’t that God is best found there so much as it is that I am a better listener when there. Thanks for the verbal visual!
Stephanie, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Being a better listener is what I am striving for, too, no matter where I am!
Thought you might appreciate this, Carol…I really enjoyed your message today!
Falling Leaves
Tall and crack-skinned sentinels
unclothe themselves as the sun shies slowly
as the lone wolf winter stalks
this copper hued cityscape.
I waste my time with diligence
uncovering our patch of dormant lawn
with sweeping strokes against the breeze
my feet wading the castaways.
October shapes are all a-round:
a pumpkin month, a warm pie time…
orange-colored dried out husks of
summer plans that simmered away at last.
Still it’s best I feel, to fall
into that windswept drift of dreams
beneath the trunks of undressed maples
welcoming naked winter’s kiss.
To fear the stillness and the snows
seems faithless while green memories
lie hidden in that hallowed crypt
out of which reformation soon will spring.
MNA 10.24.15
Thanks for sharing, Mark!