In the Silence

Have you ever really heard total silence outside? Maybe it was after a big snowfall that absorbed and muffled all sound. Winter is a great time for silence to show up.

The other day I went into Yellowstone and with the wind calm, the lake was, too. I pulled off for a photo or five and as I stepped from the car, silence greeted my ears. Amazing how it wraps around me like a long lost home I didn’t realize I missed.

While sitting at the edge of the calm lake in that quiet for a few minutes, I wondered how many people have really heard this type of silence.

I know it doesn’t happen often here with the wind being a nearly constant companion. And it’s unusual to not have much traffic just a few yards from the road.

But the silence continued – only broken once by the astonishingly loud beat of a duck’s wings on the water about 400 yards away.

The world felt like it grew bigger with each passing moment.

Silence is something we don’t give ourselves enough of. Silence lets us just be.

Here in wind country, silence like this is a Gift to be savored when it comes around.