Because I grew up on the Prairie, where I could see for miles and where innumerable stars filled the sky every night, I find it difficult to imagine how people in some cultures survive where the citizens teem like ants boiling out of a bed someone has kicked.

I wonder how they can thrive and maintain intelligent thought, when they never have space to meditate without extended family moving and shouting around them? The street itself seems to take over their living rooms. Bedrooms are never for one. Porches are for laundry and not for sunning or rocking. Even rooftops are for myriad children playing ball or flying kites, but rarely for gardening or solitude.

BUT THEY DO THRIVE AND WORK WELL!  These beautiful, intelligent people are both creative and productive.

ARCHITECTURE

http://indiapicks.com/annapurna/H_Pallava.htm

Give me the pastoral scenes, the green meadows, sheep on the hills by still waters and *quiet* so my mind is free to think and search what God would have me know.

Psalm 23

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul:

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:

thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

From WordPress Daily Prompts: http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/breathing-room/