With young children in the home, our days are dictated by the sounds of the morning. The first cries of hunger from the baby or the thrum of toddler feet springing out of bed and rushing down the hall. These sounds have largely supplanted alarm clocks in our home. They are the sounds of a new day, followed quickly by the whir of the coffee grinder. 

Camping this Summer, there was another sound that started even earlier. Just as the first glimmers of light hit the tops of the tallest pines, the birds begin to sing. For those few days, all together in a small tent, we all woke to the same sound. 

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth,” says the Psalm. It is not just human songs that rise as praises to God’s ears, but the trills and warbles of bird song, the lapping of lake against shore, the whisper of wind between trees, and yes even the cries of babies, and the joy-filled shrieks of children. 

Pause and listen.

See if you can hear each sound as creation lifting its voice to God. Pay attention to what you hear throughout the day, even if what you hear is not a sound, but a silence that holds a memory. 

What prayers do you hear arising from God’s creation today?

What prayers are arising from you?