Terri has a soft voice. Before we married, Terri accompanied my family to my grandmother’s house in New Orleans. One morning, we were preparing breakfast cereal. My grandmother had purchased a multipack of those little boxes of Kellogg’s cereal. I went to the door of the bedroom where Terri was getting ready and called out a few choices so that she could tell me which she would like. I heard some faint words on the other side of the door, but could not distinguish what she was saying. I asked again. The repeated reply was still to soft to hear. I said, “I can’t hear you.” She yelled, “Raaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssiiiiiiiiiinnnnn Braaaaaaaaaaannnnnnn!” Though her yelling voice was still soft, it was loud enough to know what her selection was, and the tone that went along with it.
Nearly 40 years later, Terri still has a soft sweet voice. To make communication even trickier, I do not hear as well as I used to. Too many years of loud stage monitors and time around industrial machinery. Sometimes I will be in the next room, or two rooms over, doing something and I hear her saying something to me. It might as well be Charlie Brown’s teacher. If I want to hear what she is saying, I have to put down what I am doing, walk into the same room with her and ask her to say it again while I am giving her my full attention.
Do you want – need – to hear God’s voice when He speaks to you? Try moving closer to Him. The further away we are, the more noise we surround ourselves with, the harder it is to hear what God is speaking. Find that quiet place. Put down the distractions for a moment and give Him your full attention. He just might be saying something you need to hear.
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
John 10:27
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”
James 4:8
