Out of the mouths of babes.....

As a kid, my dream was to live in the country and raise horses, kids and dogs (not necessarily in that order). For several years, I lived out that dream in rural Plainview, MN.  I also worked part-time at the local newspaper, The Plainview News, as the Social Editor and authored a column titled Reflections.  It was a short inspirational piece that was very well received and very much a joy to write. Today my lovely Sissy reminded me about one of them and in a world that is racing along at the speed of life, I think it bears repeating. 

Any picture I had about this story would have gone up in a house fire in 1977 (blog for another day) but my Tina would have been about the same age as my Jessi is here and riding a horse with similar markings. 

 Text: Psalm 8:3-4 (NIV)

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him?”

Donning jeans, boots, and saddle bags, we left for a three-hour trek on horseback to a place we called ‘the canyon’.  It wasn't really; it was just a wooded valley in its natural state - totally untouched by man.  It amazed us that we could be less than a mile from home and yet feel like we were in the wilderness. We had only been there a few minutes when 11-year-old Tina held up her hand in a ‘stop’ position and whispered “Listen!”  We all stopped and waited, expecting to see a beaver or deer or snake - who knows what.  Had something scared her? I whispered back, "What are we listening to?" She was quiet for a few seconds then smiled and said, “To the nothing."

She was right. The absence of noise was startling.  The sounds to which we were so accustomed were replaced by the songs of birds and bullfrogs.  The beauty of the sparkling clear brook and the sunlight filtering through the trees left us nearly speechless (note I said 'nearly'). We were so overcome by God's fingerprints, we did what we always did - starting singing praise and worship songs (no doubt chasing all the critters away).  God didn’t have to do this for us; but he did.  He wanted us to see it, to enjoy it, preserve it, and to thank Him for it.

 Prayer:  Thank you, God, for the simple things in life.  Help us to appreciate them, to work with You to preserve them and to know that You are the giver of all good things.  Slow me down and open my ears once again today to let You speak to me through ‘the nothing’.   Amen.