Noise-Less

 

Last weekend as I was preparing to mow the lawn, I decided to listen to a sermon while I mowed. (Important to note that all I own in the way of earbuds are the ones that come in the box with a new iPhone.) To say that the factory ear pieces are of poor quality would be unfair. Under normal everyday conditions, they are more than adequate to listen to music, messages, and more. Not as much while I was push mowing the yard. 

 

As I was filling the mower tank with fuel, I also selected a sermon from an app on my phone and began a message from Chip Ingram, a favorite preacher/teacher of mine. The sound was clear and I actually turned the volume down a bit, but that was before I cranked up the mower. I readjusted the volume and while I was allowing the mower to warm up Pastor Ingram's voice was still audible and clear under the noisy conditions. When I started making my rounds the mower noise increased exponentially. It seemed the more I mowed the less I could hear. I turned the volume up to its maximum level and that helped, yet the best I could hope for was a word or two here and an inflection of Chip's voice there. I continued listening to the message even though I really didn't hear what was being said in his message. During this calamity of an effort to utilize time for my spiritual benefit, I did have an "Aha!" moment of sorts. My experience or lack thereof experience in listening to a sermon while mowing is relative to how I "listen" to those that I interact with each day. Many times, we hear the voice of the person that is talking to us, but the question many times is, do we really listen to what they are saying to us?

 

The noise from the lawnmower definitely qualifies as a distracter, I can attest to that just based on my recent experience. The roaring motor noise drowned out Chip Ingram's voice on my phone, and I dare say I only heard about 5-10 percent of what was being said. We turn down the radio when we want to better hear the person either standing in front of us or when we are on a call or virtual meeting we are invested. When the kids are playing hard and their shrill voices create a noise buffer, we express our inability to hear with something like, "Guys, I'm on the phone, please quieten down or move to a different area." Depending on the situation, we make the effort to reduce the noise, and that decision is made based on our perceived importance of hearing the message. So, is it safe to say that based on the value of the conversation, the more effort we will place on eliminating the distractions that are interfering with us being able to hear what is being said? 

 

I would go as far as to say that at times we can hear the message, but we make the conscious decision to not listen to what is being said. I often remark that communication truly only happens when both the message is conveyed and then received. In the Old Testament, Elijah had a first-hand experience with this idea. I Kings 19:11-13 tells how Elijah endured a series of elemental interferences, but then the voice of God was actually found in a "small, still voice". Aren't our own experiences too often very similar to Elijah's? 

 

The messages that we should be receiving aren't necessarily the ones being delivered on a device like our phones, more often the messages are hidden deeper into the normal everyday conversations that we are having with family, friends, and others that we interact with along each day's journey. The problem is that too often we are so caught up in all the surrounding noise and distractions that we can't hear what someone is trying to tell us even when we are sitting face to face listening to every word that comes out of their mouth! When your child is talking to you, put the phone down and intently listen to what they are saying. So often the true meaning of what is being said is under the surface. Eliminate the noise. When a co-worker is talking to you about a situation in their life, it may very well be an attempt to get help that you may be able to suggest or offer, but our lives are so cluttered with outside lawnmower noise that we don't even hear what they are saying to us literally or figuratively. 

 

In the parable of the sower, Jesus spoke to the matter of noise that hinders our listening, "Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Mark 4:18-19. Anything that distracts us from hearing what others are wanting us to hear creates a barrier to us being able to provide support or assistance. In the parable, the visual is that whatever distracts us not only keeps us from hearing what people are trying to say to us, but we also do not hear from God because we allow all the things of this world to distract our attention away from Him. 

 

Our goal: be the "good soil". "Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” Mark 4:20. Listen to what is being said to you, provide support when you can, hear their concerns and their hurts, hear the joy and experience it with the person delivering the message, and most importantly hear from God and listen, you were designed to help others and others are calling out for your help. Listen, hear, and then respond! 

Coach Carter