Another pretty morning for porch pondering. Bright clear sunshine. Delicate blue sky. Just feels and looks and smells like a summer day from my childhood. Makes me remember all the summer mornings I’d race out of the house and hop on my bicycle and pedal to my friend Chip’s house. I wonder how many miles we put on our bicycles each summer.

Have you ever just sat outside and really listened to the quiet. In this modern world there seems to be no time to sit still in silence and be one with nature. And it’s hard to find silence. I sat in the porch swing for several hours this morning in the silence of the world spinning on its axis. No modern yard mechanics disturbing the quiet. Only the soft whispers of the organ wind chimes, the sweet symphonies from the song birds, and the bumblebee hums occasionally brought music into the silence.

In Psalms 46:10 we read, “Be still and know that I am God.” When we quiet our mind and let go of the world’s anxieties we can find peace knowing God is in control. I could feel God’s presence in this beautiful day. Father Sky sketched a baby blue sky, lay his white pastel down on his sky canvas and pushed the pastel across the sky canvas to add a few thin wedding veil clouds. Maybe as Charles Kingsley says, “Those clouds are angel robes.” It has been gloriously quiet all morning. Now it’s afternoon and still no sounds but the musical notes of the wind chimes and the bird songs.

I’m back in the swing after supper watching the sun begin to set as dusk quietly walks up the street. The day’s quietness is still holding on. The lightning bugs, twinkling stars of the twilight air, have begun flickering. The day is settling into nighttime. The cardinals and chipmunks and squirrels are all fussing around the feeders, getting that last snack before their bedtime. A fat little goldfinch just showed up for a late meal. He’s as yellow as a sunflower petal.

The sky is a dull gray now, the clouds have dispersed waiting for Mother Nature to paint their portraits with her watercolor brushes. The sun is a blinding ball of orange and red preparing to turn off the light on this day she illuminated so beautifully earlier this morning. The golden hour of nightfall. Just as the darkness comes Mother Nature swipes brush strokes of hot pink across the heavens. Beautiful! Father Sky is pinning the stars in the sky now, the darkness so peaceful in its still quietness. George William Russell writes, “Twilight, a timid fawn, went glimmering by, and Night, the dark-blue hunter, followed fast.” I love that quote. As I take one last glance at the sunset I see a huge raccoon climbing down the water oak trunk. Here we go again!

Bible scripture tells us when we sit in quiet and stillness we can find our spiritual strength, confident that God is working on our behalf. We feel God’s grace and strength through our prayers. Isaiah 30:15 reads, “In quietness and trust is your strength.” Exodus 14:14 states, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” When we face trials and uncertainties in our lives we can depend on God’s strength. We don’t face these battles alone. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him,” Psalm 37:7. Scripture tells us God knows our prayers before we even whisper them. When we pray we must have enough faith to believe God will hear and will answer our requests. “When you pray God listens. When you listen God talks. When you believe God works.” With faith in God we open our hearts in prayer assured we are heard by a supreme power. God talks when we listen with patience and stillness in a quiet mind. Believing in God requires faith and trust. Our faith can be a catalyst for miracles and open doors otherwise closed to us.

“Faith is unseen but felt, faith is strength when we feel we have none, faith is hope when all seems lost.” —Catherine Pulsifer