IT IS THE SILENCE BETWEEN THE NOTES THAT MAKES THE MUSIC

Dear You, 

After the fire and ash, and the flood and mud, and the deep hurt, and fear, and the “how much more?” questions.  And after the shared trauma of life on a platform of anxiety, a friend in our community of brokenness and exhaustion, wrote and asked me to offer a few words to share in a moment of silence with one’s self and others. 

And I did. And my wise Julia said I should share it with all. And I hesitated, because, i am more grieving that writing. Yet, surely, the moments we share make us brothers and sisters in time. 

And in this hurting time we have learned that it is possible to feel both deeply blessed and profoundly sad, simultaneously. 

So below, to “Dear You.”

Noah
Santa Barbara, California

IT IS THE SILENCE BETWEEN THE NOTES

THAT MAKES THE MUSIC

“Everyone who is crying isn’t crying out loud, even as words are often testimony that words fail.  So as you read, please know these are not the words of a man broken hearted but broken. Courage, we learn, is not without fear but how wrestle with our fears. 

"We are all alone; but we are alone together. In this brief life, we seek help with our emotions when we feel too much or do not feel. Feelings are a sign of health, but feelings are also tidal. Feelings ebb and flow, leaving sand where there were once sand castles. And an invitation to every child who has ever walked on any beach to write their name in the sandand remind themselves and others, if only for a moment, ‘Hey see me here, I am here, hey!’

"Sadness is a season and seasons change. Even as Scripture reminds us: “This too shall pass.” We are all tourists in the now. And the required passport is to put our faith and not our fears in charge. 

"The people we love who have gone away are not gone. The veil between the worlds is very porous. And in this moment of silence, let us remember it is the silence between the notes that makes the music. Just as tears falling on our cheeks can cause us to bloom. And God is never so with us as when we feel alone.

"The absent bird does not leave us absent of its song. Memory is the secret garden. The here and now is now and here. Take a walk in the garden with someone you love. And smell the fragrance of eternity. Together. It is not now or never, but now is never again. Reality is only a memory ahead of its time."

- Noah benShea