I realize that 'silence' isn't really an exciting topic, but I am experiencing it for the first time in quite a while tonight, so that makes it special right now. I have been camping with the kids in Quechee Vermont for the past week. We arrived on Sunday so that I could get Patrick to his Raptor Camp first thing on Monday morning, and every morning this week.
For the entire week I have been "on" with the kids - all day, all night, every day, every night. We have had some fun times here, but it takes an amazing amount of mental and physical energy to keep up with them, direct, correct, and protect them, and make sure that they get what they need and some of what they want.
As I think about our week, I find that it's actually been easier to do these things away from home - no distractions. No laundry to worry about (until I get home and the reality of camping laundry comes crashing down around me), no toys to pick up (making the kids play outside keeps the mess down), and little space to clean (although my entire house will be ready for a shake-down when the kids go back to school). I have been free to just *be* here; Be here to play with Katherine while Patrick is off learning about birds of prey. Be here to read a book while Katherine goes on an adventure in the forest behind the camper and Patrick goes fishing. Be here to watch the kids roast marshmallows, burn sparklers, and enjoy the thrills and frills of camping.
For the past few days we have even done these things with friends. But today those friends left for the next leg of a week's journey and now it is...silent.
Silence...I'm not talking about the total lack of audible sounds. I am actually surrounded by sounds; crickets, frogs, grasshoppers, and highway noise, other campers, and the relaxing sound of a campfire cracking. Perhaps what I'm thinking of isn't silence at all, rather a state of stillness. The kids are sleeping peacefully. All the campers around me have gone to bed. All that is left is me and the final flickering flames of my campfire, and the thoughts that tumble around in my head and occasionally spill out on this page.
From the stillness of this evening and the silence that seldom shows its face, I leave you with this:
"He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. 'Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.' The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah" ~ Psalm 46:9-11
