Spring 2024 has come upon us in Broken Arrow, OK

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Reverberations...

I was reminded this morning as I leaned back in my chair in the quiet solitude of the early morning in my study alone with God, about a time many years ago when the quiet solitude of the afternoon was broken by a blaring, off-key noise!  My wife had begun to encourage our kids to explore the pleasures of music at an early age.  As I am sure that I have mentioned before, the sound of music playing has always been a constant in our home.  Whether it was a record, a cassette, CD or Piper at the piano, melodies were an important part of the atmosphere of our children’s childhood.

It was only natural then for our kids to be a part of the band at the Christian school that our Independent Study Program was a part of.  When our oldest son finally reached the age to join the beginning band my wife and I, our son and his younger sister jumped into my wife’s hot burgundy Pontiac wagon (complete with mags and wide tires of course!) and headed for a local music store in downtown Santa Rosa.  After signing the rental agreement we handed Josh his shiny trumpet and with a big smile he practically ran to the car!
I’m not sure who was happier that day, Josh or my wife!  When we returned home my wife and I grabbed a cool drink and sat down at the kitchen table and simply smiled at each other.  After a few moments we heard the garage door opening up and our eyes bulged from our heads as the sound of a loud, totally out of tune, obnoxious noise began to reverberate through the neighborhood!  You guessed it… Josh was proudly announcing his new instrument to the world!  Well, I am not sure who got out the door to the garage first, but together we flew to the front of the garage where he stood!  I don’t recall our exact words but I do remember that we both encouraged him that he might want to get a little more proficient on the horn before he played for an audience! (which he later did along with just about any other instrument he ever touched!)
It was a verse from I John chapter two that led me along that particular path down memory lane this morning.  John, who was also known as the apostle of love, was telling his readers that “whoso keepth his (God’s) word, in him verily is the love of God perfected…” (I John 2:5 KJV)  For some reason that statement got me to thinking about the opposite effects of love and I recalled Paul’s vivid description in I Corinthians 13:1.  Here the apostle who had actively experienced the opposite of Godly love declares that if I “have no love, I have become a reverberating gong or a clashing symbol.” (I Corinthians 13:1 International Standard Version)
I have to tell you that I also have first-hand experience of the reverberating gong of those who “thought” that somehow their unloving actions and words were helping the situation!  And they are professing Christians!  Their words to my ears were like the sound that was emanating from Josh’s new trumpet on that warm Fall afternoon many years ago!  It did not make me want to stay and hear more.  It made me want to plug my ears and run as far away as I could!
Have you ever experienced that sound before?  Worse yet, have you ever made that sound for others to hear?  I know that I have a few times before and after being on the receiving end of that noise it has taught me a lesson that will cause me to think twice before ever uttering a word that might evoke a reverberating gong in another’s ear!
A few years later as I sat in the auditorium of Santa Rosa Christian School and listened to my son play a harmonious solo during the year end band concert, I was proud of his efforts, of his growth musically and as an individual and thought of how much more enjoyable were his melodious tunes of that night compared to the reverberations of his first public solo!
I think that it is important to for us to constantly keep our own ears attune to the notes that are coming from our mouths!  There is a right time to practice in the privacy of the practice room and a time to play what you’ve learned to a public audience.  It is also important to remember that the public audience includes your own family as well as those outside your home.  Think about it!  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word and keep asking yourself… “What TUNES am I expecting to MAKE today?”  

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