Quiet

"A time to keep silent and a time to speak."  - Ecclesiastes 3:7b

Living in a house by myself I often have music playing or a show on to create a sense of others around me.  The noise fills the extra space since there are no other people in the house.  Today I got the opposite in a wonderful way.  There were several times through the day of vacationing with my parents that we were together but we didn’t talk.  It was awesome to have other people in the same room, in the same car, or at the same table but not needing to talk.  The spaces were filled with people rather than noise and it was the perfect opposite to what I normally experience.  It reminded me that the noise I normally use to fill my house is only a poor substitute for what should actually fill the spaces around me – people I love and who are so completely comfortable with each other that we can be together and not have to make noise.  Our presence with one another is enough to fill the spaces and we can just be. 

While enjoying the quiet rest of being together we watched a hippo start to come after the boat we were in.  Amazingly we all watched without words as our boat driver propelled us into the thicket away from the hippo.  It wasn’t till after we were out of harm’s way that my mom confirmed what we all knew, that hippos was coming after us.  Together we smiled and quietly laughed at something that doesn’t happen very often.

As the day went on we enjoyed getting as close to the animals as they would let us.  I loved listening as my parents would express their joy every once in a while as they marveled at being so close to the animals out in nature.  It was wonderful to walk along with them and just be while talking in the outside.

Living alone I find myself talking whenever there are people because I don’t get the chance otherwise (teaching doesn’t count), so it was fascinating to enjoy the opposite while with people today.  I knew I would love the chance to be with people not needing to talk, but it was that much more filling to see it come true as we rested in the quiet of each-other’s presence.    

Enjoying more peace while eating a picnic lunch watching the lake and the birds.

I hadn't seen Buffalo or the huge Cranes before, they were a special treat.