All this noise !!!!!!

So OK, Lord, I didn’t ask to live in the city.  Actually, I asked to live on the plains, where it can get so quiet I might hear a lion roaring.  And it can get so dark I can fall asleep with my eyes open.  I didn’t really want to ever live in a city.

But I love You, Lord, so I am living in the city.  You asked Jeff and I to join you here so here we are.  But the noise, Lord….I can’t get past the noise!!

Metal gates clanking, dogs barking, weed-whackers droning, engines revving, horns honking, babies crying, birds calling, airplanes flying, motorcycles roaring, generators humming, chipping cement, music blaring, brooms sweeping, voices yelling, construction pounding, fans whirring…city noises.

I don’t like the noise.  Noise is stressful.  I want it quiet!  I read on Facebook last night of a 4-year old trying to fall asleep in another city not so far away, distressed by loud music in his neighborhood, telling his dad, “Dad, I wish we could teach the whole world to be quiet!”  I add my hearty AMEN!

And yet, in the midst of the cacophony, when I quiet myself I sense You at work.  I am reminded in Colossians that Your plan includes reconciliation, it includes redemption.  I am distressed at all the noise.  My spirit is unsettled.  Maybe the point You are teaching me is reconciliation…. “and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” (Col. 1:20)

If I can’t trust You, can’t believe You to redeem all this noise in the city, how will I ever convey to someone else that I believe you can redeem a life, believe you can redeem a person?  If I let the noise make me grumpy, causing me to complain and to be distracted from the quiet of my time alone in You, then how can I have any testimony of Your reconciliation and redemption?  Your plan, Your way, is reconciliation of all things.  Hmmmm, OK then……

God, I choose to let you redeem all this noise in my life.  I choose to let you renew my mind and transform my thinking so I can turn this cacophony of sound into a symphony of praise back to you.  I choose to believe You when Your word tells me through Christ You reconcile all things.  You really are actively redeeming all of creation, all of the time.  I choose praise…I choose joy!

Thank You for the man chipping our cement wall so it can be repaired and painted.  Thank You for the lovely yard across the fence that is being mowed with a weed-whacker.  I praise You with the birds and the dogs offering their voices of praise.  I pray Your blessing on the baby crying and on the person yelling instructions.  I thank You for placing me in a location with many people, offering limitless opportunities to build relationships.  I thank You for fans to cool the air.  I thank You for security and people at work caring for the environment, sweeping and clipping and mowing.  Thank You for allowing me the privilege of joining You in this city. Thank You for redemption, for Christ my Redeemer. 

We do have an enemy and he does prowl like a lion.  I don’t need to be on the plains to hear his roar.  It might just be happening right outside my gate….I choose to proclaim My Redeemer and help others get connected to Him.  I choose….

Christine