Sometimes, the quiet we seek is not mere silence. Rather, it is silence enough to hear a whisper, the voice of God calling out to us in the sounds of the earth. For this sunny, warming Sunday morning, I offer a poem about what we can hear if we dare silence ourselves.
Within this holy quiet
I hear your word in the wind
blowing through trees
in the caw caw caw of crows
(always three times, it seems)
in the rat-a-tat-tat of a singular distant woodpecker
in the slap of water against a mid-stream rock
at the bottom of the hill.
For this holy quiet
is not so quiet after all
but filled with these sounds of yours
urging me in toward you
and then back out.
You whisper in my ear
as if standing beside me
a kind stranger at a bus stop
lingering in my shadow
as if I mattered somehow
and I hear for the first time, distinctly,
words you likely speak to me
all day, every day
those which I don’t usually hear over the drone of me
and the scratching of scurrying feet.
I slow and listen
remind myself
to be more than do
reach out more than hold back
listen more than speak.
Turn to me
only say the word.
Say it again.
10 comments On Within This Holy Quiet
Thank you for this reminder!
Is this you God, I hear my husband trying to breath because of copd, Parkinson”s disease..Is this you telling be to Pray, Pry, Pray for him. I stop breathing so I can hear if he is still breathing. God keep me on the path to you where we will live and BREATH for ever with you. Kay…
Thanks, Jan,
What a prayer, Kay! What an act of faith to pray in such moments of worry and fear. God bless you and your husband…
What a beautiful poem. Thanks for sharing it with us. Dotpkr
Thank you for this beautiful poem. I need silence, love to live within silence when I am able. Your prayer helps me understand my need in our evolving world where so many seem to need to be plugged in to noise every waking moment.
Loved it Steve!
Nice to be encouraged in this form of contemplative prayer!
Peace and blessings to you all, in the silence… Tom
Thanks, Dr. Tom. See you soon.
Thanks, Deirdre. It is indeed hard to find silence unless we go looking for it and make time for it.
Thanks, Dot.