In an early episode of the show, the young Shaolin student, Kwai Chang Caine (played by David Carradine) meets the blind master Po for the very first time. After providing a little lesson in humility, Master Po asks his new student to take a moment to close his eyes and just simply listen.
"What do you hear?" inquires the old man.
"I hear the water. I hear the birds," replies the boy questioningly.
The master inquires again, "Do you hear your own heartbeat?"
"No," the boy states matter-of-factly.
"Do you hear the grasshopper which is at your feet?"
Surprised to find that indeed, a grasshopper was resting at his feet, the young apprentice exclaims,
"Old man, how is it that you hear these things?"
With gentleness, patience and a little laugh in his voice, the master replies,
"Young man, how is it that you do not?"
How is it that you do not?
How is it that I do not?
How is it that we do not,
Hear the the voice of God?
For all around us...everywhere and in everything...God is whispering to us, revealing Himself to us, beckoning us to lay our burdens down and simply come.
He ecstatically calls to us in the playful babbling of a nearby brook. He croons to us in the sweet courting trill of birdsong. She is imminent with every miraculous, resounding contraction of our heart and emergent in every live-giving breath that fills our lungs.
His glory is revealed in the grandeur and mysterious, intricately-weaved complexities of the universe. The earth clutches at the bed sheets - roaring, rolling and pitching with wave after spastic wave - convulsing in pregnant anticipation of His imminence.
And yet, He is so quietly and gently intrinsic within even the simplest of creatures who rest humbly at the feet of God's image-bearers, like a woman named Mary resting at the feet of Jesus, revelling in the wisdom and light of the Divine and wondering,
"How is it that they do not hear?"
***
Photo credit: My thanks to Onilad for licensing his beautiful work, "Imagoism" Creative Commons so that I can share it with you. Please take a moment to view more of his amazing work!
"What do you hear?" inquires the old man.
"I hear the water. I hear the birds," replies the boy questioningly.
The master inquires again, "Do you hear your own heartbeat?"
"No," the boy states matter-of-factly.
"Do you hear the grasshopper which is at your feet?"
Surprised to find that indeed, a grasshopper was resting at his feet, the young apprentice exclaims,
"Old man, how is it that you hear these things?"
With gentleness, patience and a little laugh in his voice, the master replies,
"Young man, how is it that you do not?"
How is it that you do not?
How is it that I do not?
How is it that we do not,
Hear the the voice of God?
For all around us...everywhere and in everything...God is whispering to us, revealing Himself to us, beckoning us to lay our burdens down and simply come.
He ecstatically calls to us in the playful babbling of a nearby brook. He croons to us in the sweet courting trill of birdsong. She is imminent with every miraculous, resounding contraction of our heart and emergent in every live-giving breath that fills our lungs.
His glory is revealed in the grandeur and mysterious, intricately-weaved complexities of the universe. The earth clutches at the bed sheets - roaring, rolling and pitching with wave after spastic wave - convulsing in pregnant anticipation of His imminence.
And yet, He is so quietly and gently intrinsic within even the simplest of creatures who rest humbly at the feet of God's image-bearers, like a woman named Mary resting at the feet of Jesus, revelling in the wisdom and light of the Divine and wondering,
"How is it that they do not hear?"
***
Photo credit: My thanks to Onilad for licensing his beautiful work, "Imagoism" Creative Commons so that I can share it with you. Please take a moment to view more of his amazing work!
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