“Silence is the language God speaks, and everything else is a bad translation.” – Father Thomas KeatingThis morning I awaken into chaos.  My daughter woke up thinking it was 6AM and ran around the house yelling that she overslept.  She knocked on her brother’s door as if the world was coming to an end.  She came into my room in a panic.  I jolted out of bed, grabbed my cell phone, and saw it was barely 4AM.  She didn’t believe me so I planted the apparatus in her face while she adjusted it.  I asked her to come to bed with me for another hour or so.  She was so wired that her energy spun me into my own memory vortex.  I realized how far I had arrived into my new life.I spent a large portion of my life being awaken each morning to chaos.  If it wasn’t the yelling of fear in my own head then it was the external noises of someone who had no peace and had to wake the house up whenever he was up.  Time didn’t seem to be relevant to anyone. I have spent the last two years of my life waking up to peace in these mountains.  I open my eyes, say my prayers, light a candle and sit there for a little bit.  I go with the rhythm of the morning.  I need silence.  I need to hear God in those initial moments of returning to this world from the dream state.  Anything else, just like the quote, is a horrible translation for me.  And, I know this is ironic.  I am a chatterbox during the day.  I will make conversation with anyone or anything.  I have been known to talk to the trees, the fish, and the rocks.  But, my mornings are sacred.  I need to go to the windows and look outside and see how the day will receive me.  I require serenity in those first moments of entering a new day.  I need to breathe in deeply and let my spirit know that I am grateful for everything.As I write this I am watching rain fall in our pond and the backdrop of green mountains behind it.   I can hear the rattling of leaves with the wind, the movement of the screens and water pounding the deck. I can hear the whisper of nature shredding and purging.   In the silence of my spirit I hear God loud and clear.  May you find your inner guide to bring you to a place of silence each day so you can touch the Divine.