July 1956 (age 57)

Not much to report for this month. More good news about The Singing Wilderness: the Lutheran Book Club bought 1,800 copies, bringing total sales since its publication in April to about 8,500. Sigurd continued to receive letters of praise from friends and strangers, including one from Sherman Adams, assistant to President Eisenhower, who wrote to Sigurd on July 25, calling it "a beautiful book."

July 1971 (age 72)

On July 4th, Sigurd wrote a fascinating letter to the Rev. Robert L. Gamble, a minister from Stanton, Minn., who was questioning his own faith. Here's an excerpt:

Yes, I do believe in God, not the conventional God. When the Scriptures say, "God is love and the Kingdom of God is within you," I believe this is the truth. God is spirit and thought. Sir James Jeans the great astronomer once said "The more I contemplate the universae, the surer I am that God is a great thought, no mention of a physical God, no consideration of logic or order, but purely a concept in the realm of the great imponderables. For man to have reached such perception convinces me that his most miraculous achievement is the evolution of a mind and consciousness that could envisage such a God. Man as a physical being, is nothing, but man with mind and understanding, man with love is something else. When you consider the wide implications of love we know that nothing else is important. We might unravel the secrets of the universe and great though such discoveries may be, they are mechanical. Man's greatest growth is the evolution of mind and spirit and those who recognize this are blessed. To me this is God and it is enough. I no longer try to define God but accept this premise as the final answer. No one will ever define Him. Each man must find his own. When I pass on, I shall go with serenity. It makes no difference what happens to my remains. The immortality of spirit and love is assurance that all is well. When I hear the hermit thrushes and whitethroats at dusk and the loons calling and a great quiet comes, then deep within me is the answer.