I'm home sick today. Some sort of bug -- probably picked up on an airplane trip. Oh well. So I gave into it and just stayed home. While drowsing abed most of the morning, a variety of sounds surrounded me. The ticking of the mantle clock. The whoosh of the geo-thermal heat coming on. A woodpecker working furiously on some piece of rotted tree trunk. The occasional jet coming in for a landing at the Indianapolis airport. A car coming up the long gravel drive. Someone (from that car, I suppose) knocking on the front door -- I didn't answer. The telephone ringing -- I didn't answer it, either. Princess the wondermutt barking off in the distance... no doubt on the trail of some much faster coyote. And the buzzing of my iPhone whenever an email came in.
Even though I was abed resting and no television or stereo was on and I was wrapping myself in silence as well as blankets, I heard, in the supposed silence, all these sounds. They reminded me of the ongoing beat of life... and how it makes itself heard. Just like a heartbeat ... so silent to the world outside, heard only by someone who comes close enough in silence to listen.
I am grateful for those sounds today -- even the doorknocking and telephone ringing. Even if I don't answer then.
-- Brent
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