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It's beautiful, David, form and content. Once again, I learned 🤍 but did I understand correctly? So, in the streets of San Francisco, the voice of the ocean offered a new sonic backdrop to the city during the pandemic? And for their part, the sparrows, no longer needing to create a new sound to be heard in the hustle and bustle of urban traffic, offered a unique, free concert to their own avian family and, incidentally, to the city's residents? This idea that ambient noise steals the sound of life is magnificent, because it reveals the reality of everything in us that is distorted by the environment, habitat, and so many other factors. Does this mean that all animals living near large urban centers have modified their sound, their song and their way of communicating with each other? When the time for restoration arrives, we mustn't miss the opportunity : who will we become, what 'me' will we encounter, what voice will come out of a repaired body? And what a discovery when everyone we know experiences the same metamorphosis. Exponential love will emerge victorious. I really LOVE the narrative voice. Simply, without the written text as support, those of us who are not English speakers run the risk of missing out on these glimpses of wonder, and it would be such a shame not to have access to them.

Job’s false comforters prove your expression accurate. Where I live, there’s an old saying about dining out: If you can’t afford to leave a tip, don’t go out to eat. It reminds me—if we’re going to visit someone with the intent to comfort them, we shouldn’t go empty-handed. We don’t need eloquent speeches; we need simple, heartfelt words like, “I’m here for you,” “I’ve been praying for you,” or when the moment allows, “Would it be all right if I said a prayer?” And when we can honestly say, “Jehovah has helped me—I know he can help you,” that’s not just sympathy. That’s sharing the very comfort we were comforted with.

I understood from the research that under normal conditions, you can’t hear the ocean crashing on the rocks from the Golden Gate Bridge because the city and traffic noise usually drown it out. During the shutdown, even the foghorns echoed clearly. The sparrows didn’t create a new song; rather, they sang much softer because they no longer needed to compete with the traffic noise. Scientists were able to record vocal qualities they had never captured before. As for other animals, my research didn’t cover that, but I’ll be discussing another species that benefited — penguins — in an upcoming blog.

This past Sunday I had a thought about music myself.... I was standing outside during the lunch break at our Circuit Assembly. It was a little chilly indoors and I wanted to get a little warmth from the sun. So, I found a little spot outside and just soaked in some rays for a few minutes. How did I know when the session was about to begin? Music. It's amazing how Jehovah, through his organization has trained us to come in and take our seats when we hear the melodies begin. As I watched the line of brothers and sisters file into the auditorium, I thought to myself, "What music will we hear and gather together in the New World. Will we hear instruments or a chorus, or both? 🙂

Truly Fascinating!

Beautiful. I so agree…

That’s a thoughtful question, and it shows you really engaged with the idea. But it may help to clear up one point: the Planck time isn’t a wall we’ll ever “reach” or a different kind of existence Jehovah offers. It’s simply the limit of our science. Physicists can trace the universe’s history with confidence back to about 10⁻⁴³ seconds after the beginning, but before that their equations break down. It doesn’t mean nothing existed “behind the wall,” only that human knowledge can’t describe it. Jehovah, however, is not restrained by Planck time, or by any human measure of time. He created time itself. Psalm 90:2 reminds us he is “from everlasting to everlasting.” Eternal life, then, isn’t about entering some indivisible flicker of time — it’s Jehovah’s gift to keep living real days, years, and ages without end, always under his care. So Planck time isn’t where Jehovah “dwells” or what we will “strike” in the future. It’s just the point where human physics stops working. Jehovah himself is timeless, and eternal life means being invited to live unendingly within the flow of time he designed, with no wall to stop us.

You are right, David, to point out that the most effective words of comfort are inevitably those found in the Scriptures. They are Jehovah's words, so there is no doubt about their usefulness. However, there have been times when, due to a lack of tact, these words have been used at the wrong time, or in a way that closes the heart to further conversation. Nothing seems worse to me than saying one word too many when the heart is on the brink of despair, even if that word is divine. Comfort is an exercise that requires emotional and verbal dexterity. I have sometimes preferred heavy silences to the dull sound of a quoted verse. As is often the case, it's all in the way you say it.

Wasn't it a strange question : 'do you love me?'

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NWT):

Do we know why the firefly hovers like a helicopter before landing on a leaf? I was thinking that Jehovah really did create beings or phenomena to fuel our dreams and imagination, to make us write stories, too. If I understand correctly, behind the Planck wall, our time (past, present, future) doesn't exist? It would become a kind of indivisible unit in which only Jehovah evolves. Is this the time that Jehovah will offer us as a gift, in the future? With eternal life in sight, are we going to strike with the Planck wall?