Sounds of Silence

For those of you who are my friends, or consistent readers of this blog, you know I have a passion for the Adirondack mountains, and for hiking.  When I can have both together......it's awesome and I feel like I'm in a bit of heaven!

During our family vacation 2 weeks ago, up in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains, I woke up one morning to a very quiet cottage.  Dave was outside in one of the lawn chairs doing some writing on his laptop.  The girls were sleeping in.  I made coffee and a light breakfast and decided to do another hike.  Dave wasn't interested in going and since the trail I was heading to was part of the Adirondack Interpretive Center (which is managed by the NYS College of Science and Forestry and has naturalists on site including student interns and sometimes a forest ranger), I knew I wouldn't be totally isolated.

I spent a few minutes in Scriptures and meditating on the dock down at the beach and then checked in with the girls and Dave with my hiking plan. I grabbed my backpack and water bottle  And.... I was off to Newcomb.....about a 10 minute drive east of our cottage.

I checked in at the trail registry and decided to do the Sucker Brook Trail first. 

I was the only person on the loop trail. In fact, I saw no other hikers for the entire 1 mile loop.  The trail runs along the same route as the logs did back in the days of the Hudson River log runs.  There was one older couple just starting out on the trail as I was ending it.

Along the loop trail, I saw this scene.

easy trail.........not challenging enough for me!

Yet...I felt the pull to continue....I felt God's Presence all around me..........

so I began to listen to the silence. 

Because it was quiet out there in the woods...meaning no human life.

I heard the calls of birds...many different kinds....a woodpecker, a bluejay, cardinals, robins, and chickadees.  Iheard the chatter of the chipmunks and saw a grey squirrel and then a red squirrel scamper among the old oak leaves lying under the ceders and other evergreens..........

I saw bear scat on a section of this trail...........

I heard an oriole although I never did see him...........

I heard the lapping of Belden Lake...an isolated lake I had never seen before and that one cannot see unless you hike this trail or own property on the other side.............and it was quiet.....it is not a lake for motorboats..........the silence was loud.

And this Scripture came to mind..............

"I will praise the name of the Lord with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving."

~Psalm 69: 30~

The birds were giving thanks to the Creator.

Yes, creation worships God..........

"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.  Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."~Psalm 100: 1-5

I stood and breathed in. 

Breathed out.

And gave thanks to God for His marvelous creation.........

...............and was full of gratitude for having this experience...my first time ever hiking in the woods totally alone..........

I was enjoying the experience so much that after the one mile loop along Sucker Brook to Belden and back through the woods, I decided to check in at the other register to do the .9 mile loop to Rich Lake and back.....and while on that trail, which was closer to the Center but had absolutely no one on it.....not even a bird's song..........

 He reminded me that because of the sounds of silence, I can know Him......

and His Voice.

I started listening to that silence........to that Voice.........in my heart.........

He reminded me that I am His Beloved..........

And that He is my rock and my fortress.............

and to be still  in order to be intimate with Him..............

He led me to pray/talk about my daughters and their futures, for my husband and our future and our dreams and our hopes and concerns and worries.........

and I became aware even more than standing with 1500 other worshipers on a Sunday morning in church surrounded by worship hymns and the strumming of guitars and the pounding of drums and the tart juice of the communion cup, that He is with me.  That He has given me many blessings...........That He truly is the Rock of my Salvation............

so...take a hike...........

surround your self in the sounds of silence............