SILENCE = huh! what is it good for???? ABSOLUTELY ----- EVERYTHING!

 I no longer enjoy complete silence. Tinnitus reigns in my skull. It casts its high-pitched buzz over whatever may or may not pass through the ears. 

Thankfully, that buzz is to the tune of a much-loved sound of late summer: the pulse of the northern cicada. When all else has stilled, I redirect my attention from the buzz to that twinge of angst associated with August's arrival: "Its time for school." The humm of the Cicadas wafted through the classroom windows as I put up posters, cleaned chalkboards, crafted seating charts, and set up workstations. 

While the activity has changed since 2016, the spark of memory continues; enough so the feeling, though ever so slowly losing its grip, still casts its shiver and invigorates the moment. 

At least I can entwine cicadas with the tinnitus and get through the days. 

But silence in principle still takes conscious effort to encounter. Releasing myself of the hooks from rods & reels of to-do lists, ideating, urgent tyrannies. 

Then when I do, it isn't long before the LORD shows up - in song, in verse, in Scripture. Then through an enveloping spirit of Peace. 

And somehow, for those captivating moments in time, I don't hear the cicadas anymore.

I'm grateful to Eva Marie Everson and her work, The Third Path: Finding Intimacy with God on the Path of Questioning for encouraging a deeper look into the paths of closeness with the Lord.

 

Child abuse happens for all kinds of "reasons."  I thank the LORD for perceptive and compassionate people who reach out to the little ones, of whom Jesus is so fond. 

(new Link)   They are ALL equal

The movie, The Sound of Freedom is a gripping portrayal of rescue from the underworld of child trafficking. 

The heartwrenching sadness rushes in like a flood when I view videos of infants and young children being thrown over the southern border wall, abandoned to face a life barely known to most of us. 

I suppose it will never stop until Jesus comes. But what can we do to curtail the abuse of children? It cannot be limited to sending money. I must model and promote childhood value by the way I live, interact with parents and families and my own grandchildren. 

Lord, help me to seek to live out your words, "suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven."    Amen.