What the heck is all that noise?

Today I was thinking about the sounds that surround my life. Certainly one of the most prominent sounds in this season of life is the voice of my daughter Sarah: "Da Da" - "Da Da!!!" I love music but only if it's the music I love, which can and does change frequently. I love the sound of our Harley. You get the idea. I love the early morning, between 5 and 7 am because it's generally pretty peaceful. (Note: Jesus was an early morning kinda guy too!) As I sit out on my front porch this evening (it's 9:22pm) it's very peaceful. Occasionally I can hear a big V-Twin in the distance and the crickets with a few cars passing, along with the crackling of my chiminea fire. 


In the early morning during the warmer months I love to be out on the front porch playing my guitar. One thing I noticed was how as the sun comes up, the noises become louder and louder. The noise of traffic on the near by turnpike, mowers, chain saws dogs and an assortment of other disturbances that make me wish I lived in the middle of 100 acres in the middle of no-where Oklahoma!


It seems I'm always telling my kids to "turn that tv down!" Or "turn that computer or radio down!" Even my Lovely wife of 15 years floods my mind with noises! I have been in situations where I had to get up and leave a room or area just because my mind was overloaded with noise! I remember being in a pizza place once and having to go outside to allow my mind to "reset." It was too noisy in there! 

Take a look at this:

• Noise - noun: a sound, esp. one that is loud or unpleasant or that causes disturbance.

• Sound - noun: sound produced by continuous and regular vibrations, as opposed to noise.

You see, going purely on definition, noise is unpleasant and sound is pleasant! What I've recently (like just tonight) discovered is, if it's noise I like it's NOT noise it's sound! As I walked through my living room and heard my kids enjoying a program on Netflix, it bothered me because it was NOISE. Just as I began to say my usual "turn that tv down!" It hit me, to them it's SOUND to me it's noise. 

One sound that I'm constantly longing to hear clearly is the voice of The Holy Spirit. Like my kids & Lovely wife, He wants my complete attention. The best way I've found to hear His voice, is to shut out all the noises that try to invade my world of sounds. Take time today to shut out the noise in your world of sounds so you can hear His voice. You will be glad you did.