A new sound....When you reach the age that I am, and I am not really saying what that is, you do not realize that there may be new sounds out there that you have never before heard. I know that is a sort of arrogant assumption to believe that there are no new sounds out in God's great world to hear. But to be honest with you before today I had never thought about it.

After a great worship service in our Marble Community Church, Jon and I took our yellow lab, Starbuck (yes that is her name and yes I do like coffee very very much), for a walk down to Beaver Lake. It was a relatively warm day and the surrounding mountains with their blankets of snow were magnificent! There was a gentle refreshing breeze and that is what created the sound. Beaver Lake has a very thin fragile cover of ice on it which is cracked in many places. The breeze stirred the thin ice and this most unusual sound was created. I stopped in my tracks and looked around for what was causing the sound. Jon, being from South Dakota and much use to frozen country, explained to me, a southerner, what the sound was.

I was so amazed that I got as low to the lake as I could on its very edge perched on a rock and listened. It was a sort of music in its own way. There was no traffic (after all it is winter in Marble) and no other distracting human made noises so that I could clearly hear this mysterious sound from nature. It was not so different from the "still small voice" that the scripture speaks of. My excitement was that I had heard a new sound, one that I had never heard before. How many new sounds are out there to be heard if only we stop to listen!

It is my prayer that I will have "ears that hear" and "eyes that see." It is my prayer that I can hear and be excited by the still small voice that is so willing to speak to a soul that is ready to listen. It is my prayer that I will always be ready to listen even if that voice speaks in a way that I have never before heard!

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Psalm 46:10
"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him....." Psalm 37:7

Another Year....Jon and I have been at the Marble Church for a little over a year. October 11 was our first year anniversary. The first year was a time for us to determine if God truly wanted us here and to give the church a chance to see if they truly wanted us as well. It goes both ways you know. Well the church officially offered us a chance to continue to serve them.

Jon recently asked me, "What have you liked most about being here in this remote location for the past year?" After all living between two wilderness areas is a bit different than what we have experienced in the past. I gave the question some thought. Then it came to me. I responded,"It's like I was seeing all things new and for the first time in quite a while like you would as a child!" From the little white historical church and the lovely people inside to the breathtaking scenery all around us.

Seeing my first full moon at 8000 feet; I remember twirling around in the middle of the dirt road in front of my house like a little girl. Did I say I was in my pjs? Hiking in the back country; we would hike into an open Alpine meadow with majestic peaks all around and I would break out singing "The Sound of Music." Feeling the intensity of the sun against the bright clear blue skies of this altitude reflecting off the crystalin snow, was invigorating! Then you know how I felt about our bears; photographing them in my night gown in the early morning, screaming at Little Bear through the door to get off the deck. Yes I have seen things and done things through fresh eyes, through childlike eyes.

I seem to remember as Jon has preached many times that our Lord said that we must become like little children to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Perhaps as I have experienced these new sights and sounds my soul has reached back to touch the child spirit deep within. I certainly pray so. Can I hold on to the newness? Can I keep at bay the tendency of life to often paint our daily lives in less vibrancy? I certainly pray so. I want to have the kind of childlike heart that runs, dances, and lives the Kingdom of Heaven! I certainly pray it will be so!

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." II Corinthians 5:17