Listen

In the cool, dark pre-dawn, I sit at my table and listen to the fog and last night's rain condense into droplets that splat against the leaves of the big oak tree outside the open door. Crickets churr shrilly, a last chorus before sunrise. Close by in the creek bottoms, I hear the hoot of a sleepy owl...once, twice...four times. I'm reminded to be still, to be silent, to listen and hear God's silent prayer. A cow bellows; a crow caws for its friend. In the distance I hear a car wind up through its gears headed for work. Under it all, God's voice is there. Even through the world's daily business, it can be heard if I stop and get quiet, if I go inside and listen with my heart open. In the midst of crossing things off my 'to do' list, working through the final preparations for my trip, and worrying about things both in my control and beyond it, God reminds me that if I'll stop, be still and listen, I can hear his magnificence in the splat of a rain drop, the soft hoot of a sleepy owl, in his caw and his bellow. Listen!