~1 Corinthians 14:10.
So often I hear from people, "I don't write, because I don't have anything to say." That may be true, but more often than not I think it's not true.
Everyone has something to say, but not everything people say is worth the listening. What we say is influenced by the voices we hear and engage. So the first key to finding our voice is to step back and discern to whom or to what we are listening. There is a cacophony of voices in (and outside) of this world. The question is: to what do and should we give our ear?
If we give our ear to God, then we are no longer solo artists, on stage, performing for a world-wide audience. We perform instead for an audience of One, who becomes the center of our focus rather than our own selves. Jesus lives this way:
For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
~ St. John 12:49-50.
Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
~St. John 5:19.
In other words, we can listen to the Father first. Then, we can speak what He speaks and do as He does. Otherwise, we can listen to the world and act accordingly. When we start trying to find our own voice it's important to discover which voices have our ear.
Take a look at this passage from Matthew 14:22-33 and see if you can identify which voices are speaking:
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat
and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed
them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was
there alone, 24 and the boat was already a
considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was
against it. 25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went
out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When
the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,”
they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to
them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be
afraid.” 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter
replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter
got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But
when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord,
save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out
his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why
did you doubt?” 32 And when they climbed into the
boat, the wind died down. 33 Then
those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of
God.”
Here's another voice I missed during my first read-through of the passage: the boat. The storm-tossed boat, far from shore, was the one physical thing seemingly keeping the disciples out of the drink. The disciples lacked confidence in the boat's ability to keep them afloat amidst the thrashing wind and waves. And yet, we see through this passage it wasn't the boat that kept the disciples safe. It was the voice of the One who calmed the wind and the waves, the One who bid Peter "Come" in the midst of a violent storm, and the One who caught Peter's hand when he was sinking. The voice of the One who still asks us today, "Why did you doubt?"
In this passage, and in our lives, we find a cacophony of voices. Oftentimes the loudest ones are designed to distract us and strike fear into our hearts. They may be the waves of financial pressure or the winds of changing times. It may be sickness, fear, doubt, or uncertainty about the future that has our ear. What "life boat" is seemingly keeping you afloat today? What things have you put your trust in that suddenly don't seem as secure, amidst life's stormy waves?
Maybe it's time for us to silence those other voices, and choose as Peter chose, to listen in to that still, small voice. Today, let's step out of whatever worldly safe haven we put our trust in, defy the thrashing waves and trust in the One who bids us "Come."
***
Hence, this post. I write this blog not because I feel like I have something to say, but because I believe God has something to say to you, and to me. My hope is that day by day, post by post, we can discover together the zoe, more abundant life that God desires for each of us, that we may come to know Him more, and learn to live and to love like He does.
If we want something worth saying, it starts by heeding something worth the listening.
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