At camp last week we took all the kids out to the vespers point by the lake. From where we were sitting you could see across the lake to the lit cross on the island. While we were there we sang some songs, enjoyed the outdoors and being there under the stars.
While we sat we were asked to listen. To just sit there and listen. We were to listen to the sounds of the crickets, bullfrogs, wind in the trees. So I did that, I sat and listened. I looked up at the skies, and started separating sounds. I heard the crickets chirping, I heard the bullfrogs croaking, a bird here or there and other insects making their nightly noise. We were indeed surrounded by a symphony of sound. But then I started hearing other noises. A truck going down the highway that ran infront of the camp, a golf cart carrying someone going to their meeting room, the distant boom of music in the mid-high dance across the camp.
I was supposed to be enjoying the sounds of nature and what I could hear was all the man made distractions. At first i thought it was a bad thing. But then I realized that I was able to hear those man made distractions. When I sat down to listen I was able to determine what was nature, what was man made. I think all day long all the sounds just blended together and I really had no distinction between them, they all just blended together.
Maybe most of my days go like that. I wonder what would happen if I sat down during my day and separated the sounds. Would I then be able to determine which noises are good and which ones are distracting instead of just putting up with them all blending together?
What about you? Take a chance to just sit down and be still. Take 15-30 minutes and sit down and just listen. Then ask God to help you determine which noises to listen to and which ones to block out.
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