Are You Listening

"A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after awhile he knows something."
                                                                                                                      Wilson Mizner (1876-1933)

Listening to frogs. Have you done it lately? I sure haven't. But I have heard the cicada loud and clear when I walk in the backyard in the evening.

I enjoyed reading the following account as a reminder to listen to nature, yes, even frogs and cicada:

"At a wayside shack just off a highway where we stopped to inquire directions, recalls Carrie Jacobs Bond (who wrote those beautiful words, The End of a Perfect Day), a wist-ful-looking woman, drawn into conversation said, 'We don't have any music, we haven't a radio, and we don't get to town. I wish I was you-all.'  . . .  Behind the shack there was a little pond where, in the shade of overhanging willows, some ducks drifted lazily. 'Have you any frogs in your pond?' I inquired, and she said indifferently, 'Yes, and they croak every night!'

"In my hillside garden the frogs have choral which I would not exchange for any other. When twilight comes the big basso tunes up, directs and leads, and soon the woodland music of a score of lusty throats take up the symphony, deep and tuneful, in a manner peculiar to frogs. To me this is one of the night's loveliest sounds. Often we silence the radio, which we enjoy in its way, to get the quivering chorus of the little brown and green choristers of the pool. There is no other music like it. At dawning the twittering and calling of the birds awakens the sleeper. During the day the gladsome note of feathered songsters is heard over the garden.

"This poor 'deaf' woman had her ears tuned to the horizon, and never knew that she was missing the wonderful harmonies of nature. Just as so often we fix our eyes on the 'apples on the other side of the wall.'"
                                                                                 Streams In The Desert 2, Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
                                                                                                August 22 devotion, from an old clipping

Listening. Most of us are very aware of the scripture verse which says God gave man one tongue but two ears that we may hear twice as much as we speak. And it is, indeed, a good thing to remember. I know, in younger years, I didn't bend my ears to hear the sounds of nature. Thankfully, I've grown into loving to hear the tunes that nature sings to me.

The sound of the wind rustling the leaves and branches . . . the rooster that I love to hear wake up the morning . . . the quiet sound of snow falling outside the door . . . the chirp of baby birds inside the house. Jerry loves a thunderstorm as it rumbles across the sky. . . the stillness of darkness as it covers the land. The snort of a deer warning the others, the crashing of waves at the ocean and the babbling of a brook.

"Incline your ear . . . hear, and your soul shall live . . ." (Isaiah 55:3)

It had been a while since I read Carrie Jacobs-Bond poem so I pulled it up to enjoy, once again, her words.

The End of a Perfect Day (1910)

Music and lyrics by Carrie Jacobs-Bond

"When you come to the end of a perfect day, And you sit alone with your thought,

While the chimes ring out with a carol gay For the joy that the day has brought,

Do you think what the end of a perfect day Can mean to a tired heart,

When the sun goes down with a flaming ray, And the dear friends have to part? 

Well, this is the end of a perfect day, Near the end of a journey, too;

But it leaves a thought that is big and strong, With a wish that is kind and true.

Mem'ry has painted this perfect day With colors that never fade,

And we find, at the end of a perfect day, The soul of a friend we've made. "

We can always be thankful because our God hears us . . . "but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. (Psalm 66:18-20) There is so much we can listen too that will inspire and encourage our hearts. Open your ears to the sounds of nature and you'll enjoy a brilliant symphony!

"One of the best ways to demonstrate God's love is to listen to people."  Bruce Larsen