BEING MORE INTENTIONAL ABOUT VERY ORDINARY THINGS - SIXTEEN

IN THE STILLNESS 

Just Before the Condo Air Conditioners Start Roaring



Very early the next morning before daylight, 
Jesus got up and went to a place where he 
could be alone and pray.
Mark 1:35

There is a whole lot about this pandemic that really gets on my nerves - things like having to think about going out in public places and being in crowds of people, not to mention a de facto ban on travel. On the other hand, I find myself finding new and interesting ways to enjoy being at home by myself. 

One of my very favorite new things to do is to set the alarm to get up early, just before the sun starts to come up, and go out on my deck with a cup of coffee. 

I like to start by just sitting there listening, first to the absence of loud sounds, then to the birds as they wake up and start their chirping. I never thought about birds waking up, but they do. At first there is one or two, then little by little there are more and finally their chirps grow louder and louder into a chorus. You wouldn't notice unless you were listening intently. It's the same with the traffic. At first the street is almost empty, then there is a car or two, then several and then a whole line of them at the traffic light. 

I like it better when it is the quietest, but as the silence fades into the noise of a morning in full bloom, I like to open my i-phone app and read Morning Prayer and the Mass readings of the day. For this, I sometimes have a second cup of coffee.  By this time, the silence has been drowned out by the noise of a busy morning. 

Recently, enjoying this new ritual, I got up at 4:30. A gentle rain was falling on the pond below my deck. The quiet was even quieter. The temperature was "heavenly" as I sat there, with coffee in hand, soaking it up. I was suddenly reminded of an old song from years ago sung by Peter, Paul and Mary - In the Early Morning Rain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dYsw6CQBdI

When I begin this newly discovered early morning ritual, I often think about how right the Trappist monks down in Gethsemani have been all those years.  Even at 6:00 in the morning when I step out on the deck, they have already been up for three hours, singing and praying and reflecting in silence.  

TO SEE WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT, WATCH THIS SHORT VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaWL2Q8uKCI

As they know, and I have rediscovered during this pandemic, the very early morning hours have a magic about them. You hear things you never hear during the day. You see things you never notice during the day. 

I am reminded of an old song I used to use to open my weekly radio program in Monticello, Kentucky, back around 1975. It is a Christian hymn written by Eleanor Ferjeon in 1931, but made popular by Cat Stevens in 1971. 
                

                    LISTEN TO CAT STEVENS HERE

                       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rifby1tVE8

Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing. Praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the Word

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dew fall on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where His feet pass

Mine is the sunlight
Mine is the morning
Born of the One Light Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning…