"Jesus won't try to speak over the noise in our lives. The more we shout, the more He whispers."
-Bob Goff
I came across this quote on Twitter and like many quotes that I like, I retweeted it. After pressing the retweet button I read the quote again, again and again. Words and their power to express the feelings and happenings of life never cease to amaze me. How there are words for everything and somehow when you can't really find the words to explain how you feel or where you are, you somehow come across someone who has put your feelings into the most perfect words, as if they have taken the very words from the tip of your tongue, the ones that wouldn't quite come out before. For these people and these moments, I am so thankful. It was a moment like the one I just described that I had with this quote.
I am in somewhat of a transition phase of life, or at least I guess that is what you would call it. Post-graduation and pre-real world. Now most people would call this the most glorious of places to be, however, my personality and the "in-between" have never mixed very well. I shouldn't complain about this time because when August hits my life as a full time teacher and softball coach begins and I could not be more thankful for the opportunities that I have been given, I am getting to live out a dream that I have had for as long as I can remember. As thankful as I am for this in-between and the doors that have opened for me, there have been some challenges and life has gotten "noisy."
The noise is my life comes from many places and most of those places are good. I think my first reaction was to think that all noise in life was bad noise and I was quickly reminded that if there was no noise, how boring of a life that would be. I'm starting to realize that the noise isn't bad, it is my reaction to the noise that needs to change.
Right now, I am shouting just about as loud as I can, clenched fists, red in the face, sometimes using a megaphone, at the fact that this time in life is a little scary, uncertain, and uncomfortable. Combine my shouting with the noisiness of life and you can imagine what I feel like I can hear at this moment- nothing too clearly. Lack of clarity is frustration, discouraging and disappointing and those are all the emotions of a person focused on the noise and my own shouting.
True clarity comes from shifting my focus from the noise to Jesus. He makes himself heard, even through all the noise and shouting, like the quote says, in a whisper. Looking back over the course of the frustration and feelings of discomfort I can see there have been moments where the Lord has whispered His promises to me at the very moments when the noise and my screaming is the very loudest. I am seeing more and more that the problem here isn't the amount of noise in my life right now, it is my lack of focus and my lack of keeping Jesus at the center of everything.
I was reminded tonight at church that with Jesus at the center, everything gets better and that He wants nothing more for me than for me to be filled with joy.
When I am shouting, He is whispering, constantly drawing me closer to Him, like a good and perfect Father does.
