Maybe it was a good thing that a man and his plodding horse could not see that country from the sky, as the vultures saw it. If a man could have seen the vastness in which he was a speck the heart would have gone out of him; and if his horse could have seen it, the animal would have died.”
–Alan LeMay (The Searchers)
“God sits above the circle of the earth. The people below seem like grasshoppers to him! He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them.”
–Isaiah 40:22 (NLT)
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Trust you all had a fun and safe 4th of July. Some of you faithful readers may have noticed that I didn’t write anything yesterday. I took a mini-vacation from writing the Echo; back today, however.
At first glance a person looking at the above quotation from The Searchers may say that it is archaic. But think again. We are but a speck on this Earth and especially in God’s universe. What are we in comparison to the stars? What are we when we stand and look out from the grand mountain vistas or stand on the rocky shore and gaze out upon the ocean?
Yet the Almighty heavenly Father knows each one of us by name and can tell us everything about us, even the things we do not know about ourselves. He can tell us what will happen to us tomorrow, if He would so choose. He knows if you have dimples, scars, moles and even counts the hairs on your head.
How grand are we then? Ponder the greatness of God and how much He cares for you.
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“Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat.”
–Laura Ingalls Wilder
I surely don’t miss the rush of the city. The smells and sounds are far away now and only once in a while do I have to venture in. The other day Annie said to me, “It sure is quiet.” That is unless you walk outside and hear the chatter of the cicadas. Julee, the youngest grandchild wanted to hear that sound when she stayed over the other night. In fact, she wouldn’t go to bed until she went out on the deck to listen.
We need to take time to stop and listen. The problem is that very few actually stop, much less listen. Just yesterday I sat outside doing my devotions, listening to one bird chirp while the rain was falling. I listened to the sound of the rain as it fell through the leaves on the trees.
There is much to be said about the sounds of silence. Take time to listen to them. I like what Mother Teresa said, “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God 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… The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence.”
Hmmm, to be effective in our active life, we must stop and listen! Ponder that!!!!