Silence was needed, and God spoke. Funny how that works in the silence.

We drove in the early morning darkness as we do every two weeks – Sam feeling the dread, and me sitting beside him wishing I could take it away and make everything alright.

As the night turned to dawn, we tried to focus on the gift of the new day – the beige-colored rolling fields, dotted with black angus; the charcoal sky turning to purple and then pink right before our eyes; the moon with its last hurrah as the sun prepared to make its entrance…

And then, in the silence, we both began to notice off in the distance before us, a gray whisp of what we thought was a very long trail of smoke. It curled and swooped from the left side of the windshield to the far right side of the windshield, and as we continued to drive, the smoky tail grew. And then it slowly changed shape. After several miles of watching it to the tune of the Acura engine hum, we both recognized at the same time what we had been watching:

Murmuration.

Thousands of birds in formation, close enough to each other they should crash, but in sync and flow, and oblivious to their audience of two down below.

I’ve heard speakers talk about the overuse of the word, “awesome.” How it should be reserved for the reverence of an experience, a moment – how it should be in a category just for descriptions of God.

I think about that every time I comment on someone’s success, or a grandchild’s artwork, or the Super Bowl win…

Murmuration is awesome. It is a visible description of God’s handiwork. It is a gift. And we were the recipients last week on that early Wednesday morning. Sam kept driving as we passed underneath the show, but I twisted around in the seat and watched as long as I could until they were no longer in sight.

The act of murmuration reminded me that God has it all under control. Even though it seems our world is chaos and fragile and we cannot see what is ahead, He is directing our path.

He is the Creator of order.

He is the Master of the universe.

He is awesome.

For Him and the relationship I have with Him, I am grateful.