“Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky” Genesis 26:3-4a NIV “We worked early and late, from sunrise to sunset.” Nehemiah 4:21a NLT “Sit in silence, go into darkness” Isaiah 47:5a NIV
Since fire was discovered, we have worked through the day from sunrise to sunset. Since candles and then lights were invented, we have stretched our days to include darkness. The sunset is a marker of time in the wilderness with limited light of dusk. It takes two hours for all the light to disappear in these mountains.
When we live without lights at night and adjust our sleeping schedule to nature’s dusk to dawn, our sleep is natural and deep. The darkness of no artificial light or “light pollution” and the stars seen above the mountains are awe inspiring in the brightness and numbers. They drip down to the edge of the horizon and I forgot how it was to breathe the light. It is a humbling experience to see this blessing.
We also felt silence. Total silence. Heightened senses became aware of the ringing in our ears. Silence accentuated the breathing or snoring of each other in deep sleep. The buzz of insects and potential wild creature sniffing is heightened in the isolation.
The mystics found a blessing in forty days. I found my senses and time changed after three days. The first day and night is all about breathing. Feeling silence. Hearing the sky. Smelling the sunset.
How long must we detach ourselves from the normal life in order to be blessed? When do we begin to quiet our souls?