Under Current

This morning I sit quietly listening to the noises that I normally pay no attention to, the humming of the automatic timer for my living room lamp, the groan of the ice maker on my refrigerator and the breathing of my cat. Simple noises that I ignore everyday yet are still there mixed in with what I do hear. As I listen to these under current noises it makes me wonder what other under currents I miss each day.

When I am going about my day and interacting with family, friends and random strangers, what am I missing? What am I not seeing or hearing? Am I so comfortable being on auto pilot that I ignore the needs of others? Perhaps one of my children needs me but does not know how to ask for my help. What are the odds that a friend is struggling and I am so focused on the day being the way it is suppose to look and sound that I miss the silent alarm that they have set off?

I have been the person that has said, "I wish I had known that was going on, I would have helped", only to find out later that I missed a hint or a quiet comment. The moment of need sent out in a whisper that was lost in the noise of my everyday life. I am trying hard to hear the quiet in a new way. Listening not to the silence but the layer just beneath, where when you give yourself the time you can relax and hear the under current noise. Most often it is in the under current where we hide our hurt and sadness so that we do not have to share it with others. The under current is a safe place to hide much of what hurts us. If we keep it quiet enough we believe it will go away.

My thought is this…how do you feel when you find out someone you care about did not reach out to you in their time of need? You question why you were not worthy to share their burden. You wonder if you missed their need and if so why. What if I tell you that this is how God feels when we turn from him and hold our troubles in the under current, thinking we can handle our struggle on our own? We try to carry the load and ignore the everyday struggles when we have arms waiting to hold those worries for us. There is no under current that can heal us and our troubles and we are not stronger then God and although we do not want to burden our friends, God longs for us to turn to him. I am guilty of this every day, not listening to the under current and God's whisper, dragging my worry along wishing the load was lighter and then remembering that God is waiting to restore my life if I just lift my worries out of the under current and hand them to Him. Trusting God and letting him listen to the sounds of my heart, the sounds that most times no one else can hear even in the noisy silence.

 

Psalm 71:20

New International Version (NIV)

 Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.