Forty-six years ago, in the summer after I graduated from high school, almost 500,000 people gathered in New York for the now famous Woodstock Festival. Some of the biggest names in rock n’ roll played in concert there 24/7. According to history.com, it was originally conceived as “3 Days of Peace & Music.”
I didn’t attend. I just heard about it. Lots of rain and mud. “Hippies” and drugs. A “poster child” venue for the message of the season to come, “Make love, not war.”
Yet the original Woodstock didn’t hold a candle to the “concert” we just experienced with You, Lord!
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)
What is our venue? Maybe we even have more of a claim to the name “Woodstock” than they did. They were in an open field, after all. We are on a hillside surrounded by dense forest. Lots of Wood Stock, of various kinds. 🙂
How was the weather? Clear skies filled with the fading light of the sunset. The air was so still, not a single leaf moved in the trees. The air was still, but the humidity was low. Temperature in the low seventies. Beautiful.
So what was the concert?
Most of the day, the hummingbirds took the lead… with butterflies as their back-up dancers. 🙂 The hummingbirds moved to their own rhythm (which was, predictably, fast). Occasionally, we threw out special requests. Once or twice, I thought I heard one say: “Hum a few bars and we’ll join you.” Hmm…. Humming with the hummingbirds? 🙂
“Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth… For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise…” (Psalm 96:1,4a)
This evening we were on our front deck, enveloped by our favorite serenade:
The Sounds of Silence.
It was so quiet, we could almost hear worms sliding through the ground. Just kidding! (Though I was certainly amazed to learn recently that raccoons have such acute hearing, they actually can!) The silence was like a thick, cozy blanket. I caught myself nodding off to asleep in my chair more than once.
I can’t remember the last time I felt so very relaxed. I wasn’t doing anything… just waiting — being — with You, Abba.
“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Jeremiah 6:16)
We came inside before the late-night acts could start. Last night’s “music” was so loud, I could hardly wrap my mind around it. It sounded like 500,000 cicadas, all “singing” at once! I read once that the love song of a cicada can be deafening. Maybe last night’s concert was their own version of, “Make love, not war”??? 🙂
Yep, our very own “Woodstock.” Right here on Sanctuary Hill — Your name for this place. Full of peace and music. But not just for three days. By Your Grace, Lord, more like every day!
Still humming (though, by now, those tiny birds have gone to bed)… 🙂
Abba’s Girl