It's so LOUD in here!

Starbucks, time with Jesus, early morning quiet and catching up with a good friend all before 8 a.m. = total gift

I'm a morning person. I always have been. Even as a teenager, if I slept in, I'd wake up feeling like I'd missed out on the day. Then, I'd spend the day trying to catch up with the world. During my years at Old Navy, I was one of the few people who looked forward to (even hoped for) the 5 a.m. shift. I love getting started before the world wakes up. Having little ones who wake up before 6:30 gives early a whole new (and even earlier) meaning. Being a morning person doesn't mean getting out of bed is easy for me, but when I do, my life is so much better. In those hours when the world is quiet and still, I have much more space to focus my mind and heart on that which matters most.

The world is noisy. It's not just the constant sounds of little girls I hear from the minute I open my eyes in the morning. There is static everywhere. Opinions, headlines, advertisements, social media, the busyness of my schedule and the demands of every day life threaten to drown out the only voice I really need to hear, God's. With so many (loud) voices around us all the time, it takes intentional effort to lean in and become attuned to God in the midst of it. Often, I have to choose to turn the noise off. Put down my phone. Choose to not check Facebook one more time. Get up earlier than my little early birds. Start my morning in the Bible hearing from God first. It's a choice and it has to be intentional. Without effort, it simply won't happen.

 

The truth is I'm not really good at it. I tend to move too fast and the chaos drowns out the Peace in my life. The other day I read John 10:27, which really got me thinking about all of this again. The verse says, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." Now more than ever, I see the need, the total importance, of God's voice being loudest in my life.                          

So, it got me thinking and I will continue to process this for the rest of my life in all of its seasons. If His voice is the only one I want to follow...if I want to intentionally teach my girls to hear the voice of the Shepherd in their lives...

How can I intentionally learn to hear and listen to his voice more in the midst of the noise?