hearing...

Sitting at the bus stop this morning I heard a strange sound. A very unfamiliar sound. Little staccato, electric zaps of lightening. Like the sound of electric current tapping on tin. I looked around to see if a power line was hitting the roof of the bus stop, but there was nothing. I looked to my left and to my right. What could be making electric zapping sounds?

I could still hear it. It was getting louder now. What the heck was it?! I scanned in front of me. Finally, I realized the maker of the electric sound! Directly in front of me there was a jet black crow, trotting across the pavement. The sound of its feet making the elusive electric clicking sounds. I watched in awe as the clicking became more defined to me when I could see its producer. So strange to think that little crow, with its little feet could make a sound loud enough for me to hear in the middle of a relatively busy intersection.

I was fascinated by my next realization! Often we hear only what we are tuned into. What we want to and ONLY what we want to. We become amazingly proficient at tuning out all of the noise that bombards us except the sounds we want to penetrate our filter, our protection.

We can be in the middle of a massive crowd of people and still hear the sound of our name being called by someone we love. We can be on a bicycle riding in the midst of honking cars and engines roaring and our ears are tuned to hear the sound of the birds above us. We can be in a silent meadow, with no noise to be heard except the rustling of trees and tall grass and we still don't hear the person beside us the first time they call our name.

It all depends on what we've trained our ears to hear. What are you tuned into? What voices are you listening for, paying attention to? What voices have you created a sound barrier for? When everything around you is silent (if it ever is!), what is it that you still hear running through your head?

What are you going to do about it?