I wrote this two years ago when on sabbatical. I'd forgotten about it until it popped up on Facebook Memories. Not had a lot of silence recently - the world, the church, the work - all feels very noisy just now. There's a need to find sabbath moments in the midst of the everyday.

COUNTDOWN

Words that break silence

carry a currency greater

than the cheap words

of our endless babble.

The Babel unravelling of human

relating, reveals a creator

who, with fingers in divine ears

wants some peace

and, perhaps,

to get a word in edgeways.

And what of the babblers?

We rabbit on, afraid that

should we refrain, pause,

stop, for a single second,

we might hear in the silence,

the clock-tick rhythm of our

heartbeats and be reminded

that this is a count down

to a greater silence.

by Michaela Youngson