Do You Hear What I Hear?

When I first started this job, I was put in an office with 8 cubicles and nine office mates. I was excited because my previous job was a lot of travelling and really, no colleagues to speak of. That was one of the reasons I was so excited about this job. I am at the very back of the office and I kept noticing how quiet it was in the office, no music (not even elevator music) pumped through a muffled cubicle wall, not much talking and even the phones were not ringing - they were "purr-ing". Just for my own information...did you know that phones could purr? Me neither. I've got my phone at home set to the tune of "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" at the loudest volume. I actually didn't know I could adjust the volume on these old (you know, looks like a rotary but has push buttons) phones until I was out of the office for a minute and an office mate kindly told me that my phone was so loud that she thought the next office could here it. Oops! The main thing that bothered me was that I missed my phone call - a sign that there was life outside of these silent puffy walls.

I finally decided to go out on a limb after about 4 days and ask some questions. I felt like I should prepare for what the next 40 years would look like for me in this office. I had to ask if this lack of sound was typical, was the noise maker of the office out for a while, or are my cubicle walls really INCREDIBLE, top-'o-the-line, noise-reducing panels. I was told, "Oh yeah, you are in the 'quiet' (air quote) office." REALLY?? My response was, "Well, I think that I have been misread and therefore misplaced unless I was hired to liven the 'quiet' (air quote) office up."

I want to say here that I truly do love my job and the noise level has risen above silent a few times and for that I am thankful. I do really like all the people in my office. There are some really sweet girls and I enjoy working with them. I expect that before too long, I will be able to call them my friends and we will get to invest in each other's lives and maybe get to the point that we can mutually pray for each other as I believe the Lord has called us to do. I look forward to that day.

I sit here today with, so far, 7 people out of my already quiet office. I am one of two. What strikes me is that as I have sat here listening to the quiet and little pecking of a keyboard, the verse keeps resounding in my ears:

"Be still and know that I am God."

Psalm 46:10

It is in the quiet times that His Presence is seemingly heard all around me. In the purr of the phones ringing several cubicles away, it is the Potter's wheel whirring around, pausing, then starting again, the clay being molded never leaving the touch of the Potter's Hands. In the pecking of the keyboard, I hear Him actually chipping away the mire from which we choose to live in and revealing a vessel that has been exposed to the some tough lessons but reflect a raw beauty ready to be refined. In the hum of the AC, I hear the firing up of the kiln preparing to burn away the remaining dross. And in the silence, and there are plenty of periods of just that, I hear God's approval as He admires the work He created, sitting in the display case for others to see. I hear His chest rise and His sigh of a work well done. He sees the work for what it started out as, a worthless piece of clay with no form and no particular beauty in itself but when submitted to the Hand of an Almighty and creative God can make others stand in awe. The true beauty is that the admiration is not directed at the work of art. It is directed to the Worker of art, the Creator of the clay, the Architect of the design, and the Designer of beauty. It is God and the fruition of His dreams for your life.

Be still. Enjoy the silence. God knows that it is here in the silence that you hear the most profound noises ever made - God at work in the lives of His creation.

May your life the work of art He created you to be today and forever.