QUIET, LISTEN

This is my maiden voyage into the cyber-sea. I guess like a lot of people I think I have a lot to say. It’s just that I’m not certain any one cares to hear it. However if the tree in the middle of the forest doesn’t fall in the first place then no one will have a chance to hear it. So God bless the patient reader and thoughtful responder.       

We are so cought up in the hectic hassle of our world that we often miss the beauty which is there to be seen.                 

I used to really enjoy fishing from a small boat in the ocean or bays nor far from us. I can remember many of those days; the sky a cloudless blue, the sea a gentle rocking calm, the quiet comfortable breeze, and the company, when there was any, was good. Sometimes, you knew there was lots of activity just beneath the surface of the water. Intuitively you knew that the fish had to be there in abundance. But, after three or four hours I got not one bite! It was a great day, I rationalized. Truth be told, if I’d cought just one little fish it would have been a fantastic trip. I would be the conqueror of all those denizons of the deep on a day made for fishermen. The real truth is that I failed to appreciate the sublime beauty of peace and quiet that surrounds a small fishing boat out on the waters away from the cacophany of cities, sirens and sitcoms. I missed the opportunity of being alone, facing my self, my thoughts, my own reality.

I missed the truth beyond. Susan Boyle, a homely middle aged woman from Scotland,  just sang in an English “American Idol” type show. I’m sure that looking at her the judges and audience believed that she’d be just one more mediocre amatuer “sung and done”. But when she began to sing, It was as though an angel had touched everyone present. She sang a beautiful ballad from the show Les Miserables. Beneath a rather rough exterior (at least to those of us numbed and a bit jaundiced by sleek beauty in our women), there was an angelic voice that touched every heart that heard that voice. People cried, people stood and cheered, even before she finished, and then, realizing that they might miss one beautiful tone, the people were quiet. When she finished there was bedlam – applause, cheering, an audience standing with tears in their eyes. All present acknowledged pure excellence. Wether this lady will “win it all” or not I do not know, but I do know that for one brief and shining moment there was a touch of heaven on earth and no one ever thought to assess physical beauty or the statuesqueness of her presence. Such gifts are I believe, God given, so that we mere mortals can taste and see the spiritual reality that is eternal.

Yes, I believe that God in such moments of our lives gives us the gift of sensing what heaven is like. I think we all have the opportunity for such epiphanies, if only we remain sensitive to what is beneath the surface, whether it’s hungry fish or beautiful music. Such moments are special to us, even though others may fail to appreciate their significance. Such moments are available to us so that we can biuld a confident expectation of the eternal, that is, so that we will hope. Such moments are available to us so that we can share the peace and hope and love that God has shared with us. It doesn’t matter whether we are fishing, listening to great art, or just allowing some real quiet into our hectic lives. What matters is that we take time away from the exterior and the obvious, from the hustle and bustle, from the outside and pressing world and turn into our own souls, into the quiet of our own spirit, into the God who so loved the world that He became one of us, died for us and now calls us into the peace of our own immortal souls. Soooo, like the Railroad sign says, “Stop, Look and Listen”! Allow some quiet, calm and peace to reenter our lives. We will all be the better for it—-and closer to our God.

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