The singing birds outside my bathroom window were my happiness alarm today. They woke me with their bamboo branch symphony. I am hooked on the word symphony. Never thought about all the sounds in my yard being a symphony but now that’s all I hear. I can’t help relating the sounds to instruments in an orchestra.

It was a little too cool to eat on the porch this morning so I ate my bagel and the last of my still not so good cantaloupe in the lady den listening to music. Thought I had lost my glasses but after looking for 30 minutes I glanced in the mirror when I came down the hall and they were on my face! Thank goodness I didn’t ask Stew to help me find them. Yep, Shady Oaks… Retreated back to the porch after the glasses search. Oldest brother came by early afternoon and wanted to know why I had on a sweatshirt on this hot day. I didn’t have the nerve to tell him it was Chief’s favorite Russell sweatshirt and I wear it when I want a hug from Chief. I wasn’t even hot till he asked why I had on a sweatshirt.

When I walked out on the porch this morning, I was gifted with a beautiful cloudless, deep blue sky morning bathed in bright clear sunshine. I sat on the porch in one of my red swings thinking the Lord has outdone himself. Then I think, God is praying during this quietness. There is absolute silence in the yard. I feel I’m in the sanctuary of God’s outdoor cathedral. Not a bird is singing, not a leaf is rustling. I can hear a faint chime of a wind chime in the far away distance like the soft high key notes on a piano and a low rumble from the train tracks of a long gone locomotive. But in my yard it’s as silent as a morgue.

A loud lawn mower across the street just cranked, interrupting the quietness, so now my yard church has ended. I enjoyed the silence. I think we all need more reflective silence in our lives. Now the symphonies have started. A jet black crow and a red tailed hawk sang a duet as they circled each other in the blue cloudless sky. The song birds are talking and arguing and calling one another. I hear the whistling wings of the doves as they land in the yard. The sleeping leaves in the street have waked up and the wind is racing them clickety-clack down the street. Three large bumble bees are buzzing around the pansies. I wonder if flowers are startled by bugs or are afraid of large bumble bees? Does it tickle them when butterflies’ tiny legs walk on their petals? I had a monarch butterfly land on my cheek once. Barely felt it, but considered it a thank you kiss for the sunflowers and zinnias I grew for them.

Nature has a way of bringing us peace. I think we can feel God in the wind, in the warm sunshine, and in the rain drops. I definitely felt his presence in the peaceful quietness of the porch swing today. I’ve never experienced such silence during my porch ponderings. Everything was so still and bathed in warm sunshine. I felt like I was in Mother Nature’s cathedral. I just sat here listening for the first musical sound to wake the silence. I think Mother Nature and her planet Earth have their own music is we just listen.

William Shakespeare said, “The earth has music for those who listen.” I hope you are listening! And I hope you are hearing the music!