Do you hear it too?
The pounding, incessant and reverberating.
The clashing, a tinny noise of metal on metal, echoing and loud.
All the noise around me beats and crashes like drums and cymbals in my mind every day. Not an audible percussion really, but the noise of this world is every bit as loud, in every corner of my brain.
I hear it most of the day.
Much of it I seem to welcome with open arms, even as I inwardly cringe at the chaos it brings as it MARCHES through my mind. A never-ending parade of noise-makers.
The News… it tells me to worry, worry, worry in a steady rhythm of doom and gloom.
The Influencers… their shiny, happy faces in perfect places crashing into my reality with the message that I’m not good enough.
Social Media… with the thrumming message that I might be missing out on something important.
There seems to be no end to the procession of digital diversions and distractions, each one an instrument of mental noise.
Am I condemning it all? Is there anything melodious hidden within the cacophony? Honestly, I’m not sure.
In the meantime, this noise is drowning out the one Voice I need to hear, pushing His gentle whispers down and drawing to the surface my own self-absorption.
IT’S SO NOISY OUT THERE!
And it’s all too much. It’s too loud. There are too many voices.
I long to hear the one Voice I need…but I forget.
I forget sometimes that God speaks in a still, small voice. It’s quiet by design. He’s not interested in drowning out the other voices. He’s not trying to be louder than the noise.
It’s time to turn the volume of the world down.
To twist the dial counter-clockwise until I hear that tell-tale click and the deafening silence that follows. Put the phone down. Turn the television off. Close the laptop, shut down the music, take the headphones off and power down the gaming devices.
And in that silence, to wait. To be still and listen.
When the quiet starts to get uncomfortable, as it will when a person is addicted to sound, then I must settle in. Resist the urge to pick up my phone, even for “just a second”….
To finish that show, Hear that podcast, Watch that reel, Click that link. ENOUGH.
Be still.
Be quiet.
Wait.
Listen.
And only then, when the quiet is finally an ally, and the Maker of all at last has my undivided attention, I will hear the beautiful melody of that
still, small voice.
Longing & Belonging 
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