Life's Bad Music

As soon as I walked into the coffee shop, I regretted it. I had forgotten one vital detail: it was Wednesday.

Wednesday means open mic night. My coffee shop desk had turned into a stage.

I'm all for live music. I love going to concerts. I enjoy writing to live music.

Photo from a Needtobreathe concert

Sure, I have my favorite artists, but I'm not very particular about music (you can't be when your sign choir performs "Joyful Noise" by Flame and "Come Thou Fount" in the same semester). I'm also not a musician which means it takes a lot in order to get me to cringe.

The band on the stage in my coffee shop office on Wednesday made me cringe.

I picked the quietest corner (as if such a thing exists), sat down, and got to work. I figured if I was working, I wouldn't notice the band as much.

Wrong.

I couldn't leave because I had a lot of work to do, but after a few minutes, I couldn't stand it anymore. I pulled out my headphones and turned on my own music. At first, I couldn't even hear my song over the band. I cupped my hands over my ears as if that would drown them out more.

The band got louder. I turned up my music. I wanted nothing more than to block out the exterior noise and focus only on the delightful, familiar song penetrating my heart once again. Something changed.

The noise around me didn't go away. It was just as awful as it had always been, but the gentle voice in my ears was so sweet.

That's life.

Maybe not constantly, but life definitely has some bad bands playing from time to time.

We call them unemployment. Cancer. Debt. Miscarriage. Tornado. Broken relationships. Death. Illness. Car crashes.

We can't stand their music, but we've got a front-row seat. We didn't intend to go to their show, but we can't unplug the soundboard.

That doesn't mean they need our undivided attention.

What if, instead of focusing on the bad right in front of you, commanding your attention, you chose to focus on the sweet voice of God in your ears?

It's not easy, but once you get a taste of the Lord's voice, once you hear Him above the noise of life, you're not going to want to stop listening.

Lord, teach us to focus our attention on Your sweet voice of love and encouragement rather than the awful noise all around us.

Katie