I was grumpy and without energy Monday morning, which I would like to think is not my usual way of entering into a new day. Part of me wanted to remain in the foetal position for my day off, but I knew that was not the solution. Instead we agreed to put the roof racks on our vehicle, tie on the canoe, and head a few minutes north of Belleville to a section of the Moira River we have paddled several times in our kayaks.
Getting ready is fussy, which darkened my mood a bit more, but eventually we got to the boat launch. Within minutes of leaving the launch site at the bridge on highway 62 behind us I could feel the change. Part of it was the physical activity of paddling with a trusted partner of many years. As my lungs opened up, the tension lifted, then my ears became attuned to my surroundings. We could still hear the traffic but it diminished quickly, giving way to the sounds of wind in the leaves, which is different in Autumn as they dry. We decided to follow a tributary stream as far as we could, turning back when we came to the gurgle of a riffle. Along the way we heard the chatter of kingfishers and shrill cries of blue jays.
The north end of our paddle was at a substantial rapids with a much louder roar than the riffle on the stream. We held ourselves at the bottom to enjoy that unique sound of tumbling water. On the return trip we sent several blue herons into flight. We watched one move artfully through the woods and then back out over the water. Another leapt up from the shore stirring leaves with its wings before settling into the steady whoosh of flight.
For good parts of the paddle we made our way without speech, although would we call this silence? There wasn't any noise, if noise is defined as unwanted sound. What we heard were the non-human sounds, the geophany and the biophany acoustical engineer Bernie Krause writes about in The Great Animal Orchestra.
The sobering reality is that it is getting more and more difficult to listen to creation without human sounds and noise. Krause says that when he first began recording nature sounds he recorded about ten hours of material to get one hour which was usable. Now it is a thousand to one. While we too are part of the natural order we seem to be very good at making noise which is often less than joyful.
While I have finished up the Creation Time themes in worship, Creation Time continues and we could argue it always does, if we listen. As we paddled we listened to God's orchestra and as is so often the case, listening to a musical ensemble or group is healing. The rest of my day was so much better because of the sounds of the created order.
Do you have similar experiences? Do you make the God connection?
