'Be still and know'

Under deep blue skies, I am sitting in the sand at the seashore.

The sun is a torch, but the warm land breeze caresses my skin and keeps my long hair off my face.

Despite the sunscreen I just applied, I wrap an orange beach towel around my legs.

I am undercover – not because of the big straw hat atop my head or the polarized sunglasses I’m wearing.

I am in hiding...

I wish to blend into my surroundings as inconspicuously as the stones, shells and single beach rose a few yards in front of me.

These days it gets increasingly harder to find solitude, yet here I let go of my everyday life and retreat into nature’s calming presence.

The first step is detachment.

The laundry list of things to do begins to fade. The buzz and barrage of bad news reports recede. I forget where I am and where I’ve been.

My senses sharpen...

I begin to hear the music: the pulsing of the sea, the cry of gulls, the sounds of children splashing in the surf, the wind in the sea grass, the beating of my own heart…

Contemplatives teach us how to connect with the Divine:

“Be still and know I am God.”

“Be still and know.”

“Be still.”

“Be.”