A CHANCE TO REFLECT

My deer hunting experience will begin in two days. For more reasons than just the urge to slay a buck the size of a small elk, I am looking forward to this.

As the day for me to head to the north woods of Wisconsin draws ever nearer, I find myself anxious to be there already. I know what will happen, but I do not know what will result from it.

I will spend three to four days in the woods, being as silent as I can, hardly moving, hoping the scouting I did pays off. But more importantly, I will be forced to reflect.

It doesn't matter what I reflect on, the simplest truth in this matter is that I wll reflect on something, and that, for me, is necessary. I have no choice really, if I sit in that chair in my hunting stand high in the air, being silent, my mind will be forced to remember, to think, and to process things. Some of these things might be of the sort I wished I didn't have to process (like Theresa Holbach's murder), but others, such as merely thinking about God and my relationship with Him will be welcome experiences. If you have ever sat in silence for three or four days straight, you quickly realize that your mind is anything but silent, and thus, you begin to reflect.

I am looking forward to this time of reflection. I know my mind will dwell on some things it maybe shouldn't, but that doesn't frighten me. You see, I never feel closer to God than when my mouth is silent, and my mind is loud. In my mind, God is here, as I know He is in my heart as well. Somehow, when I am speaking outloud, or entertained by the many things we can be entertained with, God seems to drift into the background. I have found that although silence can be unnerving at times, if I long for God, there is no better way to find Him again than to be silent. That is true for me...I do not know what is true for you.

But I hope everyone has their moments of silence. Sometimes we can fear the silence, but my experience with it is that I always come away from silence with a renewed sense of peace. I look forward to those moments the older I get. Peace be with you as well.