– Secret Place Insights –
Dear One, having successfully loosened myself from the grip of my to-do list, I was able to leave the house with just enough time to get back before dark. I left the house out of need. My body had been pleading for a long walk, and though I craved exercise, there almost always stood between me and the door…the to-do list.
The road was slick with a mixture of glassy blacktop, rough icy crunchiness, snow-packed tire ruts, and loose snow. Until I got past where the road was shaded, I had to carefully choose my path. It was difficult going, especially with my body reminding me how badly I had been neglecting it. I guess, instead of me complaining about its lack of strength and youthfulness, it deserved an apology.
I wasn’t far from the house when I met a young woman who often walks by our home. We exchanged a few words, and I walked on until I got a text I had to answer. Next, a man pulled into his driveway, rolled down his window and greeted me. After that exchange, I started up the hill, and turned at another incline. Soon, I heard footfalls behind me. They seemed close, I looked back. A woman was perhaps seventy-five feet away. Strange that her steps are so loud? I walked on, again she seemed right on my heels. I checked, she wasn’t. I walked on until I felt I had to look again. I said, “I keep looking back because your footsteps are so loud that it seems like I might be in your way.” At the top of a hill I stopped, and we caught up on neighborhood happenings.
Next, I came across a woman sledding beside the road with two preschoolers. They were laughing, teasing and rolling around in the snow. The woman remarked on what a beautiful day it was, “There is absolutely no breeze. It is so quiet.” Until that moment, under a cloudy sky, I had not given the weather a thought, but yes it was nice out, and incredibly still. Quiet? That clears up the loud sounding footfalls. I left the giggling trio behind, trudged on to my furthest point, turned and headed toward home. When I did, I realized that the sun had set, and that dark would beat me home.
The further I walked, the darker it got, the darker it got, the deeper the silence. As I neared home, I stopped once, twice, three times. Alone, under the cover of darkness in the still of night I surveyed the sky, field, woods and blanket of snow. The private sanctuary almost took my breathe away. I removed my earmuffs so that I could better hear the silence. My heart swelled, my eyes watered, as I drank in the wondrous sound of silence on a cold winter’s night.
At that moment the entire earth seemed holy...holy…holy. It was then that I remembered what God had spoken to Moses (Exodus 3:5), “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” I sighed, It’s cold, I’m glad God is not asking me to remove my boots.
When I neared the house, I stopped again and slowly bowed inside the starless sanctuary. I did not want to go inside, but Ron would be worried about me. Once inside, I called out, “Did you wonder what had happened to me?” Without looking up from his crossword puzzle, he replied, “No.”
“The heavens declare the gory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of His hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
Their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun…” Psalm 19:1-4
Blessings,
Susanne
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