Last week in my personal journal, Stirring my Spiritual Waters, I wrote about The Silent Space One of the things I wrote about was how I can sit in my dining room and gaze out into the garden and soak in the silence. Yesterday, as I was sitting in my dining room and gazing out into the garden I realized that I was watching a performance, or perhaps it was a praise and worship service being led by the various inhabitants of our garden. The windows prevented me from physically hearing anything that was really going on in the garden or the sounds which things were actually making, but I could sit, watch, and hear on a different level.
One of the first things I noticed was that I had two wind chimes hanging in one of our trees in the backyard. I had remembered having someone hang one of them for me, but had no memory of this second one. This one was different and sparkled every time the sun shone on it in just the right way, it reflected a rainbow out on to the green blades of grass. Both of them moved with the wind and even though I could not hear the sounds, I could watch the chimes move and in my mind, I could hear these beautiful sounds singing to my soul.
Then I gazed out at these tall grasses which were now alive, but brown, as we forgot to trim them last year. They too moved back and forth with the wind. While I could not hear the wind or the sound of them moving, it was as if the softness of their movement seemed to combine with the sounds of the chime hanging from the tree. Then I noticed the birds that were flying from one branch to another and from one tree to another. While I could not physically hear the sounds they were making, I could sense the sounds which were coming together. It was as if there was a choir coming together in this space and they were giving praise and thanksgiving. The branches of the trees kept lifting up as if they were saying thank you.
This morning, I went to get my morning cup of coffee and as I gazed out into the silent space, half expecting to hear the same songs, I was struck by the reverence in the garden as not a single thing was moving. The shadows of the trees were cast out on the grass. The plants were still and yet in the midst of it all there was this feeling as if at that moment, they and I were all aware that we were in the presence of and in communion with the Divine. Maybe that is what the authors were getting at when they wrote the lyrics to a now famous song – Silent night. Holy night. Maybe what I was witnessing was that holy moment that comes to us in silence.