Stop the Words
It's confusing that inasmuch as I treasure the gift of words, I've realized that they pull me away, they distract me, they lead me to rely on intellect and reason and problem-solving. I get caught up in the cycle of words and they bind me and prevent me from finding my one source of hope and love. Think about it, we wake up, we listen to radio and TV, we read email, we Tweet, we go to work, school, weekends are filled with activities and words, evening events, even church services where we're instructed and taught...we start to believe that these activities and actions are the ones that keep us informed, up-to-date, and offer us informed peace and hope and love. Day after day we live in the unending flow of words from the world and for me...it's exhausting.
My mind and ears are aching. And my spirit is hungry to hear the Word of truth. But somehow, I may have found a remedy for my life. And it is a strange fix, in fact it is two opposites that attract and help me. These two strange bed-fellows are music and silence. Let me explain. Some of my best times are those that I put on my headphones with praise music blaring and get outside and walk. The only words blasting in my ears and mind are words sung in glory to the King of Kings. Words sung in joy that declare His power over my life. As I walk, I only hear and experience His love and offer of healing and all I see before me is His creation. Somehow, this becomes the most worshipful experience of my week. Because it's just me and Him. There are no distractions, no spoken words, no other people.
And the music is LOUD in my ears. Why, you may wonder? Because the world's distraction is so loud in my head that I find the music has to be LOUD so my mind doesn't wander and stays on my God. Seriously, I'm so feeble-minded that I literally need the volume loud to keep my attention. That is how much my brain has been impacted by the words of the world.
My next step after this loud music-searing experience is the exact opposite...silence. As I arrive back at my home, I stop the music and simply sit in silence and listen. Listen to the cry of my heart and listen to my God's response to my soul. It becomes the most real part of my week. For I have finally stopped the words, stopped the world, stopped my own goings. I've had to break the cycle with the music so that I can find the moments with my God.
And the scary part for me is that the words are getting louder and louder in the world. I'm becoming more and more distracted. I've simply got to choose the Music and Silence more and more and more. Am I the only one dealing with this words overload? Are you? How do you separate yourself for the world of words? Would you try my "Music - Silence" experiment?
It is good to praise the Lord
and make music to your name, O Most High,
proclaiming your love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,
to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
and the melody of the harp. Psalm 92:1-3
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. Psalm 42:1
