Each of us goes to the forest, the mountains or the beach for different reasons. I go to admire the Creator God’s work and to spend alone time with Him. We live in a world that bombards us with information — the sound of texts coming to our phones, emails arriving or another layer of sound playing in our ears as our buds bring music or talk or news to us. This creates a mind that is occupied much of the time with external stimuli and does not allow us to rest our thoughts, our hearing, or our eyes.
It’s no accident that the Lord began life in a garden. He filled the earth with plants, fruit trees, flowers, birds and lovely streams. There were no airplanes flying overhead, no leaf blowers or lawn mowers, and no constant background traffic noise. Even Jesus used to withdraw from the crowds to rest his mind, body and spirit and especially when He wanted to pray.
You know from reading these blogs that I grew up in the country on twenty-seven acres of land that offered woods, fields, streams, and a pine forest. We were not on the Newark airport flight path then. And many days all you heard was birdsong, the flap of bird wings, gurgling brooks, and the wind in the pine boughs or magnificent trees. But you could hear the sound of children laughing and playing in the pond. At night the bull frogs’ chorus was loud, and the robins spoke their evening song as I fell asleep with my head on a pillow propped up on the windowsill. Awakening in the middle of the night, there was not a sound unless the owls were hunting, the wind was making the house creak, or the mice were busy in the walls. Silence reigned.
I’m old enough to have seen the first television enter our home. Perhaps this was the beginning of the end. But we have come so far from that first TV in overstimulating ourselves that it becomes necessary to find ways to get away. Yet how many people truly disconnect when they travel? How many afternoons have you spent where you didn’t check your phone? How many days can you go without listening to the news? Quite a few. It is actually quite freeing.
Some of my favorite places to walk are the nature preserves nearby. I like them because they are somewhat remote from the constant landscaper noises. The foot path is dirt and crushed leaves of many seasons. There is nothing to see except what the Lord has laid out before me — an ever-expanding delight of treasures along my trail. Deep in the woods, I often sit for a half hour or so just listening to the surrounding forest, noting the wind on my face and body, and taking in any fragrances that are being carried by the breeze.
My favorite place in one preserve has two chairs that some thoughtful person brought and placed on the deck overlooking the marsh. I often sit there for a long while on my way into the forest and on the way back. Except for the occasional hiker or dog walker, it’s completely silent. Occasionally an airplane flies over. But usually the only sounds I hear come from the inhabitants of the marsh — the fleet of ducks, the fish and beavers, the redwing blackbirds, and the wrens and kingfishers that hunt there. Even the appearance of a great blue heron is cloaked in silence as I watch it glide through the air to a spot for breakfast hunting. I suppose if you were close enough, you might hear him walking in the shallows.
In the fall, my favorite pastime is to listen to the wind in the trees and try to hear the leaves when they finally float and touch the ground. It’s the softest of sounds that you can only hear if you wait and listen.
So the next time you go for a hike, concentrate on finding the silence. Then listen for what the Lord sends you. It’s worth the wait.
“Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.”
Mark 6:31 NLT
