I have no doubt that what Rob experienced was real and wonderful and reading through it sure gave me food for thought. I don't want to give anything away, so I will let you read for yourself in a minute. Along with Rob's words, I have a few pictures in my camera that I thought I would share after his article which I think kind of go with his experience. I hope you enjoy this post as much as I have been enjoying putting it together with Rob.
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Cell phones, Fax, Email, Text, Blog, Google, Twitter, Facebook, Face Time, Skype, Blue Tooth, Sync, WiFi, Sirius, GPS. These are all terms used in today's world of tech and communication to make our lives so called "easier." Sounds almost more like a prison to me. My phone, which is not a smart phone, is still smart enough to call someone without me knowing about it. For some reason it dials the number nine a lot which is my sister's speed dial number. It has called her so often that if I want to call her for real she won't answer the phone. So if you have a smart phone, is mine a dumb phone?
My phone has this sensitive little button on the side for voice recognition. Many times when I put it in my pocket it will activate and say, "please say a command." So I have to pull it out of my pocket and tell it to shut up. Are we any better off than we were fifty years ago? Sometimes my memory takes me back to my boyhood days like when I first learned to skate or walked a mile to school in ten below zero weather only to find out that school was closed and I would have to walk back home again.
Being the youngest of four boys I had to learn to skate with old worn out hand-me-downs, three sizes too big, stuffing some old socks in the front of the skates to make them fit or use the kind that you strapped some belts around the skates that strapped unto shoes, this kind must be somewhere on The Antique Road Show by now.
Maybe we have lost our innocence as a society where we enjoy simple pleasures of life like a cow pie. My memory, again, takes me back to the down of an early autumn morning with the air crisp and clear, my breath floating like little clouds catching the first glint of the morning sun peeking over the horizon. My aim was not to just do a chore of bringing in our ten cows for milking but to see what kind of adventure this new day bring. There it was, a fresh cow pie with a steam from its fresh warmth streaming upward. This was my chance to warm up my feet in this pile of cow dung, feeling the warmth squeezing up through my toes is a memory that still lingers with me to this day.
Do we take time to just enjoy life? Last Sunday afternoon we went to watch our 8 year old grandson play golf. After a long hard winter it was such a thrill to watch him play with 80 degree Spring weather, riding a golf cart with our other two grandchildren.
Today, though, I want to share with you something so rare that according to my memory I have found it only once in my entire life. Maybe you could find it some other places on earth like the South Pole but I'm not sure you could ever find it here in Ohio. I've wonder many times in our hectic, on-the-go, got to have it right now lifestyle world when do people find time to talk to God? Or is he someone we just use when we need him or are in trouble? You see God created us in the first place to have a relationship with him. God is our Father and he wants to communicate with his children and give gifts to them.
This gift so rare was given to me from God himself on a Christmas morning about twenty years ago. Maybe it was the little boy in me anticipating the excitement of Christmas morning that woke me up around four in the morning? This particular Christmas morning, as I filled my lungs with the fresh clean air there was an anticipation and wonderment stirring within me that I had to be a part of. About a quarter mile behind our house is a woods called "Bear Hollow." On this Christmas morning Bear Hollow was beckoning me to come and visit. Standing under the trees that had shed their leaves in the autumn and on a fresh blanket of snow, it was here that I was given this gift so rare that all I could do was stand in awe. My heart and soul were so touched by this gift that my emotions could not contain it all so I just stood there and cried.
So, what was this gift that was given me that Christmas morning that was so rare that this is probably the only time in my whole life that I will find it? The gift I was receiving that morning was the gift of total silence. There were no motors running, no cars, trucks or airplanes, no horses hooves clopping on the pavement, no kids yelling, no dogs barking, no wind blowing. It was like standing in the Cathedral of God with the snow tapping a gentle tune on the tree branches and a little brook rippling over the rocks below me. This is a gift I will have stored in my memory for as long as I live.
My hope and prayer is that maybe you also will experience the sound of total silence just once.
Rob Yoder
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As I was reading over Rob's article I could feel his frustration with the cell phone issues and then to be able to go back in his memory to a morning where there was total silence except for the snow and the creek rippling. No one can ever take that experience away from him.
A few Sunday's ago we had what seemed to be Winter's Last Hurrah and there were some crazy things going on in our lives and so Mr. Wonderful and I actually skipped church and we went out into the wonderful snowy world we lived in at that moment and got some fresh air in our lungs and basked in the beauty of God's creation. I was able to capture some of what we experienced with my camera. What Rob was talking about, that gift of silence. Mr. Wonderful and I experienced some of that silence that Sunday morning we were out and about. Every now and then a car would pass us, but then once they were out of hearing distance it was silent again and except for the clicking of my camera it was pretty much a gift of silence. I will have to figure out how to do panoramic shots on my camera because the fullness of the forest and the snow that day left us totally in awe of the beauty that God had created.
Click on the first picture to get a gallery view.
I loved how the sides of the trees were snow covered. The contrast of the bark on their sides were just what the doctor ordered.
The rippling of the waters flowing through a snow covered forest was better than any beautiful song you would want to hear.
Love.
Almost crystal in feel. I just stood there and drank it in with my eyes.
The creek looks like a giant hallway running through the great room of the forest.
Even the treetops were singing glory to God that morning.
Reminds me of arms raised high in worship to my God.
Serene.
The sun shining through and kissing the snowy ground.
Stop! Can you hear the silence?
So beautiful.
More arms raised high and holy.
The tree limbs almost remind me of crystal lace as I look at this picture.
The sun really started to appear and right before our eyes the snow was melting and it was noisy, the snow dropping to the ground. I felt heart sick that the moment was passing by so quickly.
Let all creation sing of God's glory and wonder!
Rob wrote a book called "Dying to Live". I've not read the full of it, but from what I've read it is a quick read and rich in stories about life lessons he has learned. Choice Books sells it and if you are interested in purchasing it, but can't find it, please let me know and I will put you in touch with Rob.
Here is Rob's Facebook link, in case you want to connect with him. Let him know I sent you.
"A book conceived in suffering and birthed through prayer, Rob's story and his deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ will touch your heart as you contemplate your own spiritual journey."
Lue, each time I am thinking of something during a particular day, when I go to read your blog post that evening, it's very much in tune to what I'd been thinking! Coincidence? Someone told me there are no coincidences with God.
ReplyDeleteI can so relate to what Rob experienced with the silence. We live in a very noisy area, next to trains - literally in the backyard. And of course, the usual noise of traffic, horns, people walking by on cell phones, etc.
One year,.we had gone to the Adirondack Mts. and stopped the car at the side of the road to walk a wooded path leading to a small lake. The further in we walked, the more silent it became, until I had thought it was raining...it was the sound of leaves falling onto the forest floor! I could hear each leaf land on the ground because it was so quiet. When we reached the lake, the blissful echo of Loons on the lake rang through the silence. I will never forget it. So beautiful. A sacred moment.
Now, we are blessed to have a vacation house in the country high in the mountains where such silence is still a reality. No cell phones there due to no reception. We are next to state forest land. The only sounds are of nature. I think if I went there in winter I would experience that 'total' silence Rob writes about. :)
Linda, that was a beautiful description of your moment of total silence. I could almost hear the sound of leaves falling for myself. Silence is something our society has lost for sure. Sadly.
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