The Sounds Of Silence

Sunday, February 18th, 2018

Silence is underrated. In the ever busy lives that we lead, where we wake up to alarms, start our days with our favorite spotify playlists, and drive to work or school with the radio playing, we tend to forget about the wholesomeness of silence. It's almost as if we're scared to leave ourselves alone with just our thoughts with nothing to keep our wandering minds distracted. Maybe we're afraid of what we'll find if we stop our little nothings and just listen. Just a thought.

It's not every day that is as perfect as today. It had a solid start with a good service at church, and an ending to put any average day to shame, what with the combined sophomore/junior party and then a get-together for Luke's birthday afterwards with the guys (we had a bunch of pizza, fun conversation (Complete with a total Bear Grylls burn. (For the record, he's the worst "survival guy show" out there. Just sayin'.)), and a showing of the movie RED (would highly recommend)). (Sorry guys, I go a little crazy with all the parentheticals sometimes.)

But the highlight of the day for me was going out on a little hike to Idler's Rest. There was only five of us, Charli and Mandy, Bobby and Daniel, and myself. Oh, and we brought Jex along too. As soon as we got there Jex bounded out of the car and jumped in the snow, and I followed suit. It was a mite cold laying there in the snow, so I stood up a couple seconds later. But in my heart I was still flat on my back in the snow. Ah, it's been too long! I need more snow in my life!

We started along following the trail, but promptly found ourselves off it. We didn't care and kept on going anyways; it was a relatively small area and the way it was set up it'd've been pretty difficult to get lost. You'd need some serious skills to pull that one off. All along the way Bobby and I would occasionally throw a few straggling snowballs at each other. There were also these cool little trees with snow all over their branches, and if you shake them all the snow falls off on the person behind you. This may have been done a few times by a handful of unnamed individuals... ahem.. anyways, but bime by we reached as far up the hill as we decided we should go, and so we went down the other side of it at a right angle.

Jex and I had many a fun romp, and we especially had a fun time going downhill because of all the speed you get and the fun leaps over branches and logs and... ah, everything. I miss the woods. I need more of it. I think we all do. But more on that later. Eventually we hit back on the trail again and carried along for another while, talking all the while of course. It was great. Daniel got several good pictures too, and then we came to the spot where the year before our two classes (at the time freshmen and sophomores) had posed for a huge group picture. Daniel insisted we all stand on this big fat log while he got a picture of us, and then he wanted us all to jump of and get a midair shot. Somehow I got mixed up on the signal of when to start, and I made as if to jump but then realized that I shouldn't jump. To try and stop myself from falling, I put my arms out to catch myself, but kind of ended up pushing on Bobby's and Charli's shoulders, and Bobby ended up accidentally doing the same thing to Mandy next to him when I suddenly started pulling on him, and... yeah, we all fell off the log. Whoops. But we clambered back up and got the picture, and it was all fine and well. Then Daniel swapped places with Charli and Mandy, and we did it again so he could be in it.

After that, we stood there. Snow began falling from the trees because the wind blew across the treetops, but then it became evident that it was actually indeed snowing for real. The flakes were beautiful. We all just kind of stood around and stared up into the sky, or off into the dark depths of the snow-covered forest, and sometimes our gaze would fall on the spot where the sunlight broke through the trees, casting a narrow strip of the woods into a bright golden smattering of pure ocular bliss. It was gorgeous. Beauty surrounded us on every side, and we couldn't drink it up fast enough. Several minutes went by in complete silence, each caught up in their own thoughts and ponderings. We were briefly interrupted by a passerby and his dogs, but we went right back to the pure silence the moment he was gone.

But it wasn't silence. The creek bubbled and trickled, laughing for the joy of it all; birds chirped gayly in the trees, hidden from sight almost as if they were too shy to show their faces but at the same time bursting with so much joy that they couldn't remain silent if they tried to. The wind blew off in the distance, swaying the treetops which every now and then sent down their blessings in the form of snow falling from their boughs. The trees themselves creaked with excitement, swaying along to the music of the woodland world. It's almost as if all nature is singing for joy at the beauty of it all, thankful to the core for existence, and ringing out in jubilation at the handiwork that God has wrought. It is marvelous. It is is amazing. It is truly glorious. And how can I stand before it all? What can I do? Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips! But not now, no, not forever; Christ has been crucified as our Passover Lamb, and I am now washed white as snow. Never forget, children of God, that this is true. Glory be! The five of us stood there basking in the pure praise of his awesome name, speechless at the beauty, marveling in His creation. It's a dance. It is song. It is joy.

This is what we're missing in our day-to-day lives. Consumed in entertaining ourselves to death, drunk on smartphones, high on the attention of others, bowing down to the idol of busyness and the myth of productivity we slowly drain ourselves day in and day out. We never stop going, we never stop listening. We're never sober enough from the entertainment to stop and think; for the worldly flesh inside of us is afraid of the light, and worries that if we pause for a minute we'll hear the music of the spheres and again return to the true God. Don't listen to the flesh; kill it. Every. Single. Day.

Now, I'm not saying that music is bad, or that we should drop all our responsibilities and become hermits out in the woods, far from it. But just don't let yourself fade away. It happens slow, but it happens nonetheless. Instead, take some time every now and then just to listen to what's going on around you. Keep in mind the bigger picture, don't forget your ultimate calling, and don't miss the forest for the trees. There's more to life than grades, assignments, and putting in the hours at work. Don't forget that.

But back to the forest. It had been several long minutes spent in silence, and it was time to go. But before I said anything, I wanted to see what time it was. I reached for my phone case to get my phone out and... crtsshh. The velcro keeping it shut came undone with a soft, small noise, which in the quiet sounded like a cannonball ripping through the starboard side of a five-masted frigate. Four pairs of eyes snapped at once and stared me straight in the face, staring straight to the depths of my soul. And I couldn't do it. All the joy from the beauty of the scene that was pent up inside of me could stand it no longer, it had to ring out, it had to sing: I burst into laughter, which rang through the trees and bounced off of branches. Soon others joined in and we all decided it was time to go back now. We headed back to the car, loaded up, and hit the road. We all had a great time, it was perfect. And Jex was happy too. And after that glorious time spent listening to the sounds of silence, to the sound of God's creation singing His praises, I'm rejuvenated. There's really nothing like a good communion with the saints on a Sunday morning followed by a good dose of His nature to recharge your drained and depleted battery. Give me a sword and a shovel because I'm ready. I'm ready to build, to fight; to live.

BRING IT ON!!