Listen.

Last night I was awakened by a extremely loud thunderclap. It brought me out of my sleep instantaneously and had me sitting straight up in my bed, awake and frozen in fear. I wonder if that happens to anyone else. And then I curled up in my blankets, little a little child, trying to hide from the thunder and lighting. It seemed to shake the house. Thunder seems so powerful.... but it's not the dangerous thing. The danger is in the lightning. The lighting strikes out.
Kids are always scared by thunderstorms. Many people try to explain the noises... either in logical ways, or illogical ways-- such as, God is bowling and just got a strike. Mmkay. Now I'm going to explain it. It's a foreshadowing of the end. Now you're hooked, right? The lighting is Satan getting smoked by God, and the thunder is Satan's powerless screams.
As I lay awake listening to the thunder... ok more like cringing because of the thunder... I just thought about how busy we are. All the time. We rarely take the time to just sit and listen. I've found great pleasure in doing that the past two months here in Austria. The running water, the singing birds, the thunder, the rain, the coffee pot, laughter, church bells... such beautiful noises. I think that often, God tries to talk to us, using his soft, melodic voice. But we're not listening to that. Because we don't listen to his soft voice, do you think sometimes he sends out thunderclaps just to get our attention? It usually hits us like a ton of bricks. Because we haven't been listening. I've stopped to ask myself what God is trying to whisper to me. Often my own voice is so loud, I can't hear anything else. I don't want myself to be louder that God. God, I don't want to hear myself.