A muffler of heavy snow shrouds my world. Only a few inches, but enough. Fallen snow can create a cavernous silence. Sound catches in it and rolls up like a huge snow ball to sit and wait for a thaw. Then it breaks loose again, noisy, intrusive, grating. Until then, a snowy night is a perfect night for contemplation.
A Feast of Silence.
In silence time passes less swift and mechanical for you cannot hear its deadly tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.
In silence ideas fly free as chickadees, flitting from one bare branch to another leaving imagination in their wake.
In silence loneliness lurks, waffle soled boots, mud covered, leaving indentations and scuffs on my heart.
In silence words and stories climb out of their caves and sit in front of me like blinking children woken from fabulous dreams.
In silence I hunger for the sweet voice, familiar, resonant, of the one I love.
In silence questions pry up the rocky places in my soul and leave them bare, tender, trembling for answers.
In silence memories wander back up the trail, slapping me on the back, bidding me good day, treating or troubling me according to their given names.
In silence dreams roll over white and billowy and laden, so dragging dark bottoms.
In silence fear scrabbles up my legs.
In silence freedom like a wind drives impossibilities before it, leaving only windswept possibilities.
In silence I hear my own beating heart, the rushing of my own breath, the ticking of my own clock asking, “Is . . . There . . . Someone . . . Out . . . There?”
In silence I feel His voice fill the empty space. Yes, I am.
mmmm,… and Amen to that!,… precious moments,… a “Yes” (and a Silence) that overwhelms and subdues the restless and conflicting background static of the noisy chatterers, and puts all the “talking heads” to mortal shame,… (IF they would but stop to listen),…
I think that your snow is coming our way,… I’m sure that “I AM THAT I AM” will be there too,… may more be blessed to sense the Great Reality of His perpetual Transcendence over and within our lives,…
Exodus 3:14 “And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.”
I hope God speaks to you in the snow the same way he did me.
I usually try to sleep through blizzards, but maybe He’ll give me a special moment,… I’ll try to “make room” for it with a special kind of attention when I sense the stillness creeping in, shutting us down, and having its way,… & thanks for your prayers!,…
Georgie: I have been praying for you. I have not been watching the news or listening to the radio to know what the storm is like out there. I’m not disapointed in what you heard, only glad you listened and shared. Your thoughts are beautifully written. Thanks.
We got the beautiful and “lesser” side of the storm, so it was truly delightful to watch, and even the recovery efforts weren’t too hard to deal with,… the snow fell so lightly and quietly all through the night, with the wind only whipping up afterwards,… (we had greatly feared the predicted power outages, but were thankfully spared that trauma — and I feel very very sorry for the ones that did have them in the frigid temps!),… after the “de rigueur” morning snow clearing from the cars, I decided to sit out in mine, in a warm and sunny spot with a great view, knitting and writing letters, and watching the brilliant, glistening, wind-swept spectacle, that brought Pentecostal “fires” to mind more than once!,… all the while, I had your own story “in mind”,… but I told God: “I’m listening,… but you don’t have to tell me anything,… I can feel you, and I can see your mighty works made evident in this snow and nature drama,… ‘Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee’ (Psalm 119:11), and it speaks to me all the while of your majesty and glory,… truly, it is enough and even more than enough, Lord!,… I shall not tempt you by asking you for anything more!”,… I think He smiled,… we were at peace in the middle of a “mighty and historic” blizzard!,… a friend passed by later, bringing me a Dunkin’ Donuts Decaf, light and sweet,… aaahhhhh!,… wonderful!,… perfect, in fact!,… and this is what “your story” did for me!,… truly inspiring me to “sit up and pay attention” to some very real moments that I will not soon forget!,… precious,… thank you!,… (-:
Here’s what it seemed like He was saying to me very early this morning ~~ pre-inevitable-blizzard, as I tried to wake myself up from a deeply zonked-out, impromptu, winter’s snooze (somewhere in semi-contemplative “la-la-land”) in-between sleeping and waking!:
“The branches are starting to hear from The Vine,… This is a very Good Thing, indeed!”
I was planning to severely edit the biblical quote below, but it is just too good (so I hope you enjoy!):
John 15:1-17 [The True Vine]
1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
[Love and Joy Perfected]
9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.”
This was already Wonderful! ~~ (and I still have a whole blizzard to go)!
Resisting making my own noise, I had a beautiful observe-the-blizzard day,… many majestic scriptures honoring God’s awesome power visited my mind throughout the day, on and off, like the independent birds which soared into view overhead, focused and attentive, from time to time,… and the wild wind gusts, visibly outlined and detailed by the snow, that they lifted, carried and twirled about with them, as they moved along in their erratic ways, created such sustained and overlapping panoramic dramas, that one could imagine invisible flames of fire inciting their volatile and gravity-defying motion,… and then, just as suddenly, all becomes still,… and a perfect time for rest,…
Habakkuk 2:20
“But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
Amen,… shall do,…
dear Eugene,… hope you’re not disappointed that I didn’t hear a “Yes” from God,… most likely He speaks to us in different ways,… but if you hadn’t told your own story of the snow and hearing God’s voice in the Silence, I wouldn’t have paid half the attention I did to the drama of our own storm and the possibility of hearing God’s voice in its midst,… so, thank you, I had a wonderful blizzard experience, this time around!,… (-:
Yes.
Wha I hear is this:
Yes.
Linda: God whispers, Yes, more often that we think. Eugene