Today is just warm enough to sit out on my front porch, and just cold enough for a few snow flurries to silently fall from the sky.

It’s a peaceful morning here on the homestead as I sip my tea and watch the snow fall from the sky. One thing about snow is that it doesn’t make a sound… With rain, you hear the splash of it hitting the ground, the ping of it hitting a tin roof, or the drip as it falls from leaf to leaf in the trees. But with snow, it’s eerily quiet!

Through the quiet of the snow, however, many things can be heard:

I can hear the birds chirp excitedly at one another as more snow graces their outdoor homes. I can hear the tree branches rustle as a particularly big bird (thanks to my mother constantly feeding them) jumps from one tiny branch to another. And I can hear a slight swooping sound as the birds gracefully land on the ground next to the feeders.

I can also hear the flapping sound of the tarps around the property as they sway in the slight breeze. Although the breeze is too slight to move any of the tree branches, it is just barely enough to make the tarps flap in the breeze.

I can also hear the cars and trucks zooming by as families race off to school and work for the morning, going about their busy days. They don’t hear the silence that I hear; instead, all they hear is their radios blaring in their cars as they drive by.

I can hear the rooster down the street as it warns us all that the morning has come yet again (as if it doesn’t do that all night long too)! One little warning coo from him and the silence returns.

I can hear the occasional airplane going over the sky as well, breaking the silence for just half a minute before disappearing into the background of the bird chirps and the sound of my typing.

And finally, I can hear every noise I make! I can hear the noise of my fingers quickly typing away at my keyboard, making a CKICK-CLACK sound that breaks the silence of the morning. I can hear the slosh of my drink as I slowly bring it to my lips to take a sip of the warm honey-lemon tea that I made for myself this morning. And finally, I can hear the clink it makes as I set it down on the wooden railing in front of me…

For a quiet morning outside, there sure is a lot to hear! But it is this golden silence that allows us to hear everything around us. This week, I encourage my readers to take a moment for themselves in the morning, sit down in a quiet place, and see what YOU can hear. Because every once in a while, we all need a little bit of quiet in our lives, so that we can hear what’s really going on around us. 😉

As I empty my thermos of tea and take one more glance around, I am reminded that we all need a quiet moment in our lives to think. And although we already know we should do it more often, we never seem to make more time for that.

As always, smile, have an amazing day, and listen to the world around you. ❤