moon shell

This looks just like the one I have sitting on my desk.  I found it at Rehoboth in December of '09 with the boys.  A gift at my feet.  See how the circle goes into one point.  One.  Solitude.  I figured it out.  I know everyone can tell you but sometimes you just have to figure it out on your own.

The be still and listen.  I get it.  I understand it now.

This is my time of solitude.  Just like this moon shell.  I've been wrapped in layers.  going around and around until I got to the middle where there is only me.  solitude.   In these past two weeks of no TV, no noise, no clutter....I have listened to God....all awhile thinking I wasn't hearing anything...it was because I wasn't listening...I was anxious, waiting for what I was suppose to hear.  It was in the quiet of last night I got it.  That "aha" moment.  When he said..."this is my gift to you" this solitude.  I was reading from "Gift from the Sea" which I've mentioned lately.  Ms. Lindbergh was talking about solitude and the shell above that reminds us of this oneness. 

 I have seen this shell daily.  I have picked it up and put it down.  I have played with it while doing business.  I have worried it while on the phone.  It held a message I didn't know and I got it last night.

The book last night talked about how afraid we are to be alone.  It frightens us so much we never allow it to happen.  We choke our space with continuous "noise clutter".  I have said a zillion times...I turn the TV on for background noise.  But this solitude brings us harmony.  Harmony with all around us.  Right now I notice the loud cricket on the back porch.  The slight breeze blowing through the door.  The dog snoring at my feet.  Vena limping to me.  Without silence I would have never noticed the small things that are so important in and to my life.  What a revelation.  What a gift.

How can you get to know others when you are a stranger to yourself?  You can't.   If you are out of touch with yourself you can not get in touch with others.  Wow. 

Lord...I get it...I will be still and listen.  I will listen in this blessed calm of the morning.  In the quiet of the night.  In the moon, stars and daybreak.  I will listen...and in the solitude I will welcome myself home.