Silencio, por favor.

Life is good. I feel as if there’s no other person on earth that feels as good about life as I do in this moment. The past few hours have been great. Me and my family made the trip down to my grandparent’s house. I ate a good dinner and laughed with the family about things that happened years ago. I hid Easter eggs for the nephews on my grandparent’s country property. Then, me and the two little dudes went to the park.

Before we went, I grabbed a big ‘ol glass of grandma’s sweet tea with those big ‘ol ice cubes she’s had ever since I can remember. I also brought along the Donald Miller book I’m reading right now. We were the only ones at the park. The boys ran around while I sat on a park bench, reading and slowly enjoying that sweet drank goodness. The weather was ridiculously perfect: bright, setting sun that felt perfect on the skin, a few clouds, and absolutely no wind. There was a man cutting grass in the distance and every once in a while I caught a wiff of that freshly cut grass smell that I love. Sublime, I tell you. Sublime.

So, here I am: big sweet tea, good book, perfect weather, and tranquility (one thing that I am definitely not use to). At one point, I sat the book down at my side and just looked around. The sun was just about to start its disappearing act behind the mountains. The valley was peaceful, and as close to perfect in every way that it could ever possibly be. It was stunning.

I cherish moments like these. They don’t come often, and when they do, sometimes we don’t stop to appreciate or even recognize them. But today I did, and as hippie and fruity this may sound; I feel like I have been rejuvenated. I feel fresh. I feel… good.

Life can be so stressful and exhausting. Work, school, church, family, and relationships have a tendency to beat the crap out of us until we stumble around, exhausted like a heavy weight boxer in the tenth round. Every once in a while, I’ll have a period of two or three days that are just hard. Everything is a chore. Nothing is really enjoyable. I have so much to do, but yet I’m too tired to accomplish anything within the ridiculously short days. But then, we get moments like the one I just had at the park.

It’s in these moments that God is the most real to me. More than any altar call, prayer service, or church service. To be completely honest, I don’t feel God in these places much anymore. Many people do, and that’s real and awesome, but I guess I’m just weird. I feel God the most in peace. I feel Him when I’m alone. When it’s quiet. God is more real to me in silence. Not in the midst of music and crowds, but silence.

It’s amazing how months of stress can so quickly disappear in a single moment with God. All the anxiety, worry, and all those burdens that I was carrying around with me are gone. I feel like God distracted me with His brilliant display so I would forget to pick that baggage back up when I left the park. And it worked.

I was God’s captive audience of one today. I stopped at one point and whispered a simple, “thank you.” I’d love to say I heard some grand, heavenly response… but I didn’t. Then again, God knows when He is most real to me, and perhaps, He just didn’t want to break the silence.