In the Still, Quiet Moments...Listen...and Know You're Never Alone.

Are you one of those folks that can't stand it when it gets "too quiet?"
I used to be. Quiet was almost scary to me. Back in those times, I would make a call, turn something on "just for the noise" or whatever it took to avoid "silence."
A few years back a dear friend of mine, who is an artist, mentor, business person and a woman with a bazillion other wonderful attributes, Ann Ehringhaus, described to me how "silence" became a part of her walk. Ann operates a very successful bed and breakfast on Ocracoke. In her "on" season, her house is always filled with guests from every walk of life.
Her business required that she, of course, open her home and in that regard, she felt she had to "entertain" her guests.
As I recall her story to me, it would start in the mornings. She felt she had to get the conversations going and keep them going as she prepared breakfast. She is such a loving spirit by nature, that seemed totally in keeping with her personality. However, over time, it began to wear on her. She didn't like the feeling of "having to talk." She wondered if her guests even WANTED to talk and she started to re-think things a bit.
Again, as I recall Ann telling me about this, she decided to try an experiment. She just didn't talk. She elected to be "silent." What came as a result was amazing. She could go about what she needed to do for her guests and guess what? They could handle themselves just fine! They talked to one another if they chose to, and it was perfectly fine if someone elected just to listen.
It has been several years now since Ann and I had that conversation and back then, I decided to implement her idea into my own life. Like Ann, I started in the mornings. I told Wayne my plan so he wouldn't mistakenly think I was pouting about something (ha!) and just didn't talk. I thought. I listened. I pondered. I did laundry, I did whatever I wanted, in silence. It has become for the most part a strong way of life for me. It's like "I have to have it" now. There are times, of course, that it doesn't work out that I "can" be silent in the mornings, and I just do what I have to do and then try to get back in to the place of quiet.
Having always been known for talking, laughing and generally a noisy personality, that is probably difficult for some of my old friends to believe. Frieda and I used to have a cup of coffee together over the phone frequently, but that came about later in the morning usually. The first part was "mine."
To this day, I believe I have learned more about myself from the "gift of silence" that Ann Ehringhaus gave me years ago than I can imagine.
Folks ask me all the time about being a "nighthawk." And yes, I am. Unabashedly, unashamedly so. Right now, I'm on my porch. I am listening to rain. I hear the bull frogs I wrote about a couple of posts back. The "peepers" are out making their peeping sounds, and a symphony of "night noise" is all around me. I can hear a tinkle every now and again of either Grady or Dice moving about the goat shed. How do I know it's one of them? Easy! They are the only two goats that haven't lost their bells! I can hear the outside dogs making noises of one sort or another and it's the most peaceful place in the world in this moment.
You sure can't get this kind of peace in the middle of the day on Monday. All that will come soon enough. The phone will start to ring. The fax machine will start sending information, tons of questions will have to be answered, and life will resume "how it goes around here." But for now, the world around me "talks."
I listen, say nothing and soak it all in like a sponge. There is no music any more beautiful than God's peace in the night time.
So, perhaps I'm not so crazy after all. Crickets chirping, the night birds singing...a hoot owl in the distance are constant reminders of things that I cannot "see" that are certainly there. Faith works the same way.
God is all around us, in the daylight and in the darkness. I believe the night noises are an amazing source of comfort and a reminder that we are never alone.
There is a story that my family tells about me that I will share. The "sort of" condensed version goes like this...
I must have been about 4 or 5 when the adventure took place...
We lived just across a field from my grandparents. I had been tucked into my bed and like all good children, the intention was that I STAY THERE. I cannot tell you what possessed me to get up and go visit my grandparents after 11pm, but out of my bed, out the door and across the field I went. I went to the back door and probably woke my grandparents. My grandfather said, "What do you mean slipping off and walking out here in the middle of the night by yourself?" I told him very sincerely that I didn't come by myself. He scolded me again for saying what was clearly not true, but I insisted that I didn't come there alone. Pop decided he'd had enough with me about the whole ordeal and I'm sure my grandmother had called my parents by then. But, finally my grandpa decided to listen to my explanation. I pleaded, "Pop, I really DIDN'T come out here by myself. Mrs. Baker told us in Sunday school that we were never alone and that God is always with us."
I don't remember how I got home, if Pop carried me or how it all ended up. I just know that my grandfather agreed with my logic and there was no punishment. They were, I'm sure just glad I was safe. I remember many years later hearing him recount the story and how he was touched and knew I couldn't be punished after making such a statement. "Out of the mouths of babes..."
So, to wrap this up, the nighthawk thing really isn't all that new...and when you know God is always around, there is no reason to fear the darkness, or indeed to fear "silence."
It's in the quiet times when our hearts are peaceful and our minds are at rest and we can "hear" all the things we would have missed in this otherwise crazy, noisy, much too busy world we live in.
Give SILENCE a chance! It won't take long until you see what I mean. And Ann, thanks again for sharing your story with me. It changed me in ways that I could never thank you enough.
Dear Readers, I am in hopes that you too will find your time of day to give yourself the gift of silence. Try taking notes of what you hear, really listen, give yourself permission to withdraw for just a little while. Trust me....you'll be glad you did!
Till next time,
Annie
PS: A note of interest that I just had to put in this post...as soon as I published this topic, one lone whip-poor-will (also known as a "NIGHT HAWK!" ha!) just joined the symphony and is doing a fine duet with the bull frog at the pond. Yet another sign for me that LIFE IS SO GOOD and I am not alone!

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