Welcome to St John Church of Christ

Janet and I were traveling on her birthday, and she was sick, so there was not much of a celebration. Since then I’ve been plotting how to make that up to her. I decided to buy her a gift for my birthday. So now she has a new U-Bass, a traveling bass ukulele that she can use while we are in the motorhome.

Once a person learns to play an instrument they become attentive to how that instrument sounds in a group. Now we hear bass lines in music we enjoy.

I am surprised by the things I don’t hear, or at least pay attention to, that go on around me all of the time. “Bass lines” that were always there, but things I never listened for in the past.

Yesterday, as I pulled into the shop I noticed the sounds of the wind against the building, the creaking of the tin as the cold weather assailed it. My ears picked up the sound of a heater protecting the pipes in the motorhome as it cycled through its timer. Walking outside I noticed two squirrels in the pecan tree chattering to each other.

My eyes saw leaves in various stages of color changes surrendering to the onslaught of the wind, falling from the trees in the yard. The distant sounds of the honking of the geese were present as soon as I stopped to listen.

Who set the seasons? Who designed leaves to change from green to red to yellow then brown? Why are some more red and others a golden? Who was the artist that selected the pallet? What appreciator of music set the tones for the squirrels or the resonance of the flying geese?

It is within the scope of reason that we might live in a monotone world or one colored in black and white. However, the God of creation focused on the texture of the down on a duck, the softness of the fur on a new puppy, and the sound of an infant cooing to bring beauty to this world we share.

Oft times, in the hectic pace we keep, we fail to stop and listen, or to breathe deeply to appreciate the aroma. We may simply see the leaves as clutter or a nuisance, something to be pushed aside rather than to ponder and enjoy.