Two postings ago I wrote about the pleasures of a quiet place like the Flower Mill RV Park here in Taylors, SC. One of the greatest gifts we have been given over the past eight months is the opportunities to stay in places that are devoid of constant human noises.
We have stayed in campgrounds that are as far off the grid as one can get; places like Beaver Springs Lake Campground in upstate New York or Skidaway Island State Park in Georgia where we had no TV signals or phone connections and really didn't care. After managing, and living in, a forty room resort in Hollywood, FL for three years it has been nice to enjoy the sounds of nature as opposed to street traffic or idiots knocking on our door at 3 A.M. asking if we had change for the soda machine. Now we fall asleep to the sounds of loons on a high mountain lake, awake to the shrills of hawks flying in a clear morning sky and to the songs of chickadees, titmice, cardinals, blue jays and other birds at the feeder outside our window.
There is much to be said for silence. While our lives may never be truly without noise, there is a huge difference between human noise and the sounds of nature. Even with the sounds of wind in the trees, the songs of birds or the cries of coyotes on a cold, clear night a sense of silence still prevails. Within that silence there is a great space for the spirit to rest, grow and mature.
This paraphrase by Mother Teresa best captures what we have found in quiet spaces: We need to find Spirit, and it cannot be found in noise and restlessness. Spirit is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...We need silence to be able to touch souls.
copyright 2009-2010 Lane A Geyer
Photo by Deb
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