Photo by Aaron Burden, Unsplash

When a word or topic crosses my path half a dozen times in a short span of time, I know it’s presenting itself to me to be written about.

Silence isn’t something we spend much time considering. Some of us are uncomfortable with it in the presence of another, and we rush to fill it with words.

There’s a commercial currently running that depicts a city-dwelling couple camping in the deep woods. They’re ready for bed, snuggled down in their sleeping bags. There’s not a sound to be heard except the hooting of an owl. “Sure is quiet,” they agree. Unable to sleep in the unaccustomed silence, they find a sound effects app on the cell phone and peacefully doze off to the background noise of sirens, traffic, and the murmur of city life.

In a conversation with my best friend, we discussed  how sometimes in the midst of a tragedy we may not be able to cry…yet. I recalled a snippet of poetry from a long-ago magazine, so I am unable to credit the author. “The deepest sorrow sheds no tears. The saddest song is silence.”

At church last week, we kicked off a five-week focus on God’s creations. As a first step, Father Randolph Charles  challenged the congregation to sit in silence, listen for the heartbeat of God, and be thankful for the abundance that surrounds us.

What do we hear?

There are many sounds in silence. You just have to listen for them.

As I lay in bed at early dawn this morning, I listened on purpose. There was a soft background melody of….what? An army of crickets? Or was it some other woodland insects?

Gentle lowing of cows from a farm in the valley drifted up to my mountain top. The wind rustled the trees’ leaves and plop…plop plop…plop came the sounds of acorns falling to the ground. Then skittering noises told me the local squirrels were gathering some of the bounty.

Slower sounds of something walking through my woods likely meant the deer also were fattening up on a breakfast of nuts. The crows cawed and songbirds whistled a wake-up song to me.

I could have easily missed all of this had I not been listening on purpose to the perceived silence.

My favorite definition of mindfulness is from Jon Kabat-Zinn: “Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment…”

And that includes paying attention on purpose with our ears.