I’m sitting in a Starbucks (surprised right?) in Louisville waiting to officiate a wedding tonight. The Starbucks is located in a Barnes and Noble store and there are a lot of tables for folks to read or work at while they enjoy some coffee. There is only one set of plugs with a surge protector extended from it, so I’m required to sit on that end of the store if I want power for my laptop. As I sit down I notice there’s a man at the table next to me with big headphones on; the kind that look like noise cancelling headphones for a plane, not ear buds.
I’m not sure if this man next to me is listening to music, a sermon, or what. But here’s what I do know … he keeps belching and making all kinds of sounds. My first inclination is “Man that’s rude. He needs to stop that.” But as I think about it, I realize he probably has no idea how loud he’s being. I have found when I have ear buds in and someone is speaking to me I am often oblivious to it. When they are in and I talk to Jan, I have no idea how loud I’m being because the headphones are distorting what I hear. (Well check that – the headphones are off and he just belched so I know he knows how loud he is, but I’m still going on with this blog). If his headphones had been turned up he could have been being rude and not really realized it.
This got me to thinking about my Christian witness. Sometimes the cacophony of the sounds of life tends to drown out everything else. I can easily miss the cries of others, the questions of others, or even the friendliness of others. I can seem rude when I am simply oblivious to their voice. I feel like the Lord spoke to me and told me I need to take time to hit the pause button, look around, and listen. It could be there is someone close by that is asking for help and I am oblivious to his or her cries and rudely keep life’s headphones on going about my merry way. I resolve today not to listen to the rude sounds or voices I may hear around me and focus more on listening for the cry of others and the “still small voice” of my God.
