Thank God for Silence!

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Terry

Tonight I was reading through Sam’s book, “Nature’s Messages of Peace” published in 1937 and ran across this short but very powerful thought.

“Is it not true that in the brightness of day we often see the least, and in the midst of many sounds we hear the least?

How often, in the night, have I drifted in my canoe over the still surface of the lake, and realized that in the light of darkness I was looking upon a thousand suns, each one greater than ours; and in the deep, deep silence listening to glorious spiritual messages, to which the slightest sound would render me dull or deaf.

In my prayers of gratitude I often say, ‘Thank God for Night, Silence, Still Waters, the Moon, and a Canoe!” These have been the sesame that has opened to me marvelous new worlds.”

Quotable

"One of the inexplicable things in nature, at least to our present limited understanding, is the strange faculty of instinct found in both animals and men. In men instinct has been smothered and lost in self-consciousness and, with questionable benefit at times, compromised with reason."One of the inexplicable

"A person must stand on holy ground to realize… that in himself are talents and the opportunities through which he must work out his salvation. Not in the world, but in his own character in his work. Success is not measured by comparing himself with his neighbor, but rather in the degree he cultivates and uses his natural ability." A Tippy Canoe and Canada Too‚ pg. 231A person must stand

"Fear is the screen that hides from our view the friendship native to the wild heart. Wildness is only a form of fear, for when kindness and patience have penetrated the veil, we see unmistakable evidence of the love in all forms of life."Fear is the screen

"Sometimes, in the important matters of forgiveness and returning good for evil, our forest brethren are more obedient than we are."Sometimes, in the important

"It is within your sacred power to point thoughts of tired people to God." Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo and Still-Mo pg. 237It is within your

"A childhood has another quality which we really should never surrender. It clings to no yesterdays." A Tippy Canoe and Canada Too‚ pg. 166A childhood has another

"Many and beautiful are the gifts of spring, not the least of which is the silent suggestion of the omnipotence of life."Many and beautiful are

(Duke) "Once in while I have reached the place where peace was close at hand that I knew where to seek it at last. It was when I forget myself, and as someone said, look through nature to nature‚ as God." Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo and Still-Mo pg. 38Once in a while

"Our failure to understand the true nature of things has put so many creatures on the undesirable list that if all were destroyed of which people do not approve, there would be little wild life left." A Tippy Canoe and Canada Too‚ pg. 71Our failure to understand

"When a wealth of heavenly good is wrapped up in that one word, friend. It gets interwoven one way or another with everything that is right and desirable in life."When a wealth of