Have you ever experienced the tranquil peace of a forest at night? Captivated by the melody of rustling leaves, the hooting of owls, and distant wildlife activities, we journey through a serene forest landscape, opening up an auditory treasure trove of nocturnal peace. As city dwellers, we may not all have access to a forest, but we show you how to create your own oasis of tranquility, whether that's in your backyard, on your patio, or just next to an open window.
Welcome to Resilient Faith, a podcast dedicated to finding calm in chaos and connecting with God through the quiet moments life offers. This episode, we invite you to listen to the hum of the city as it slows down for the night, to the distant barking of a dog, or the muted sounds of evening traffic. We guide you to breathe deeply, release the demands of the day, and find calm in the quiet. As we journey together in search of resilience and peace in a busy world, we hope you'll join us in exploring the calming effect that nature and the night can bring.
Welcome to Resilient Faith, the podcast. Opportunities to find deeper resilience within ourselves can come when life seems most challenging. This podcast is to help you develop that resilience and connection with God. Being resilient and having power starts with faith.
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Have you ever listened to the forest falling asleep at night? A friend recently told me that she loves sitting near a window or out on her screened-in porch in the fall, where she lives back east, enjoying the crisp change of seasons under a handmade quilt and watching and waiting for night to arrive. Not all of us have had that experience of being out in the woods or even near them, either in a rusted cabin or up in the mountains for a weekend to get away, or even living on the edge of a national park somewhere. There's actually very few of us that can say they are able to have that opportunity. But if you had the chance and stepped outside one dark night, would it be long enough to listen? Dark enough to maybe even see one of more than 6,000 satellites rolling by? Even if you can't really hear them, you might hear the oh my, there it is in your own breath, as many of them are visible to the naked eye. Could the sound of the forest calm you? Could you hear yourself breathe? Can you sit for a while on a bench or an old wicker chair and really listen? Try it sometime. Stay up late or even appreciate the fact that it gets darker so much earlier in the fall and the winter months. In some places, dark comes upon us in the autumn, as early as 5 or 6 in the evening. Perhaps a screech owl or a western white, depending on where you are, will call you Leaves rustling either hanging on tenuously to the branches above during a shift in the wind or being shoved aside by four or five white-tailed deer and their young looking for acorns or dried berries on the ground, depending on the season. Maybe you might hear common loons chatting while settling somewhere for a night or two during their migration south, and that rascally raccoon and their two or three little ones out for the night for scraps of delights.
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Listening to the forest fall asleep doesn't have to be fearful. It can be rejuvenating, refreshing, restful, calming. Perhaps, like so many of us, you're in the city, the suburbs, a busy neighborhood, a noisy cul-de-sac or just a block or so away from a busy intersection or even a highway. I still encourage you to try it. Get bowed in the backyard or maybe your patio or balcony, or just Sit next to an open window. Give it a try, take in the night and acknowledge the evening traffic of those still working, trying to get home late after a long, hard day picking up groceries or kids from their evening soccer practice, listening for that dog two blocks away saying he's ready to come back inside for the night, like he does every night, barking endlessly, but actually it was only a minute or so. And then there's a late night ambulance siren oh, please, let them be alright. Wherever it's headed, you pray silently.
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Can the night release the day away and all its busyness, all its noise, all its errands and chores? Would it make you pause, stop and absorb what is there and allow you time to take a long, deep breath, really, really deeply, over and over again. One can certainly try it. Sometimes is so lovely listening for all the sounds of your world beginning to fall asleep, the restless quiet, the refrigerator humming, the lights being switched off on the wall one last time, or the pull chain on the old living room lamp, or the forest and the woods and its noises, the city trying to compose itself, catch its breath and quiet down and rejuvenate, refresh and find calm. All these sounds denied to so many. So maybe even tonight or some night soon, grab an old sweater or even a blanket pause, stop and listen and try to calm yourself in the quiet around you For the world around us is trying so desperately to calm down as well. May it be so Blessed be.
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You've been listening to Resilient Faith. The podcast Resilient Faith is sponsored by Brentwood Presbyterian Church in West Los Angeles. You can follow our church and this podcast on Facebook at BPCTeam and Instagram at BPC underscore USA. Make sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and thanks for listening.