The intimacy of sounds

What can we learn from sounds?

A bee’s buzz tells us we’re too close.
A child’s squeal says somebody is having fun.
A snoring husband means my reading light obviously isn’t bothering him.

Sound has been a theme for me this week in God in the Yard. Sounds in words of poetry, sounds in quietness, lack of sounds in silence.

But how does God come into play? If listening is one path to intimacy, what have I physically heard this week to draw me closer to him?

Here are 5 ordinary sounds I heard sitting outside yesterday.
And when I really listened, this is how they pulled me in extraordinarily to God...

1. Hammering of construction workers

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 

I’ve always been intrigued by the Greek word for “build one another up.” It’s oikodomeo, literally, to build a house or erect a building.

Hearing the construction sounds means someone is getting a new house, a safe haven, a gathering place for family. God tells us repeatedly to build each other up, to edify each other. I’m glad he invites our participation in helping each other find that safe gathering place in him.

2. Water overflowing from a storm
It’s still quite loud behind me. I wrote about this sound on Wednesday, how the water reminds me of God’s deluge of Christ’s blood, pouring over me, covering me with his grace. What a bounty he supplies!

3. Beeping of my cell phone
In this case, it’s Jenna texting me an answer to a prayer. We had prayed 30 minutes earlier about her friend who was missing, failing to show up for a music lesson. No one knew where she was. Turns out, the clock didn’t either. She only lost track of time; all was well, praise God.

We knew God knew where this friend was all along. The beeping text reminded me that God never loses track of us. He is always watching, always caring, always in control.

4. Birds, birds, birds
I hear them singing praise to their maker. It comes naturally to them. How about us? I remember a stanza from “Ain’t No Rock” that I heard on the way into church Wednesday night:

“Ain't no bird gonna sing in my place
I lift my voice to glorify His holy name”

5. Dog yelping. Then another. Then another.
“I’m lonely.”
“I hear you.”
“Me, too.”
“Me, three.”

Their chain reaction reminds me that God placed me in a neighborhood, in a church community, a homeschool covering, a family, a circle of friends...all places full of sounds of companionship and love and fellowship, and all places I can get affirmation of his love for me and opportunities for me to show his love to others.

* * *

David listened first.
The sounds he heard led him to praise (Psalm 104:24,33).

How have you heard him this week?