tasks, requests, comments, messages , emails, events, work, school, friends, books, peers, colleagues, movies, thoughts, emotions, overdue, needs attention, noise, noise, NOISE.
Everyday is noise.
Everyone is noise.
Everything is noise.
As soon as you wake up to the moment you fall asleep there is noise. Sound noises (cars, music, construction) to-do list noise (you need to write that paper, empty the dishwasher) and mental noise (thoughts, feelings and emotions,)
Maybe you havnt noticed. Maybe you crave real silence.
Either way we live in a world of constant noise and its easy to get swept up in it- and lose sight of what this is really about.
We get so used of constantly obeying and living in the noise we dont stop to crave silence.
And silence with God is how we recharge, refresh, hear Him speaking and relax. How we dont get so caught up in the noise we lose sight of the goal.
Sometimes we can get so stuck in the noise that we cant silence it at all. We cant hear Jesus speaking, we cant feel ourselves recharging. We arnt making the clear time to sit in silence.
It might take some practise but you need to make often, routine quiet time with Jesus. Where you don’t have any other agenda but to sit and soak up His presence. Where you make an active decision to quiet the noise.
And I know it is pretty much impossible to completely silence all noise. Trust me I know!
You can be reading your Bible but thinking about your to-do list.
Praying but still having loud anxious thoughts.
Trying to sit in silence but have your mind completely focused on waiting for the phone to ding.
Starting your silence and the neighbour turns on the power machines right then.
Doing your quiet time half heartedly, waiting for it to be over so you can turn on the tv.
It takes practise and routine and constant asking the Holy Spirit to help you to help quiet such noise. Because thats my main point.
True quiet is with God, with help from the Holy Spirit.
Even if those thoughts start to overtake your mind, even if you start to focus on your to-do list, even if the neighbour HAS to turn on the lawnmower right then,
The Holy Spirit will help you. You can catch yourself and ask Him to help you refocus.
True quiet is a skill you will need to practise. One you will need endless help from God with. One that might feel disheartening at first.
But one that will bring so much joy and peace to your life.
As Elizebeth George puts it in her book A Young Woman After Gods Own Heart;
” I call this time with God “the great exchange.” Away from the world and hidden from public view, I exchange…
My weariness for His strength, my weakness for His power, my darkness for His light, my problems for His solutions, my burdens for His freedom…”
And on and on. I would recommend reading the whole thing its in Chapter 2: A Heart That Loves Gods Word.
Exchange the worlds noise with His peace.
Have a blessed day,
Selah xx
