The house is heaving a quiet sigh, catching its breath, while children and their father play with the new lawn tractor we got this weekend, to take care of this land we now own. They are riding, weaving in and out of trees and up hills and through the forest, towing a trailer full of bubbling, giggling, cheering boys.
I am sitting and listening to the beautiful music on Ann’s blog. It’s a piano, I’m not sure who at the moment, but it’s so beautiful. It’s so human. So deeply soul filling. I am listening and am amazed, in this age of sterility and noise, that in the silence you can hear the pianist. You can hear his movement of the pedals, the quiet echo of the strings. You can hear the music being played. The sound of the instrument hasn’t been digitally silenced to create a more “perfect” recording. The recording is what it is, a piano being played. An instrument used to show beauty and light, it’s living and breathing and moving.
All too often I am searching for the sterility the world insists is life. I want the septic quiet and artificial silence that can only be had through technology and machines. I fall into the trap of believing that life is clean and starched and crystal clear. The myth that life should be perfect, starched straight up with razor-sharp creases.
The beautiful reality is that life is messy. Children are so wonderfully, incredibly noisy. In my search for sterile peace I am missing the living, breathing reality of life. We are all instruments, being played by a Master. You should hear the pedals. You should hear the Great Musician in our lives. There shouldn’t be a perfect silence in between notes being played. You must hear the echoes of the Master to hear the music coming from the instrument.
While my house heaves it’s sigh of silent relief I can hear the echoes of the children living, playing, being outside. I can hear His instruments, hear His joy, His peace, His life-giving love and I am suddenly filled with the peace that can only come from The Creator. When I stop to actually listen to the instruments, I can hear The Master.