On Being Good Listeners

We do a lot of listening. We hear well-meaning voices of input and take in respectful feedback. Let it loll around in our minds like a scrap of fine sandpaper— sloughing off and making smooth what we have.
We are better together and we should give a measured and occasional ear to tools such as google analytics, which tell us what our guests are looking for and if they even stay long enough to pull up a chair…

But sometimes–
The voices are louder than they should be. Sometimes the voices of the internet are quite shouty and they say things, untrue things that cause us to forget what we already know in our hearts.

 

And isn’t that just the way adversity needles its’ way into hope? It shrieks out our audacity in believing what God has called us to. It is low whispered lies that slander identity and paint us with the broad strokes of not nearly good enough.

But we listen anyway.
We feel nauseated at the bounce rate and the screaming silence of words that fall flat. We may stand happy and stiff-armed, presenting our gift with hope— until we look to the side and see them.. with their glossy gift. So we slink back into the shadows where doubt speaks louder than truth and we forget what we already know.

But here’s what I do know.
Most of social media is not the place to go when we feel anxious.

Too much looking from side to side makes me twisty inside. When I don’t stay in my own lane, I want to retreat further and further into things not so hard— like laundry and netflix and reading and things that I know well how to do. I can fold socks like a boss. I can flip on Gilmore Girls and laugh like it’s my job. But creativity? That takes work.

And this isn’t good, but it’s true– When I spend all my energy looking over the fence, weeds begin to grow in my own lovely little spot of land.

But, Friend?
We need to hold tighter to what we have been given in the noiseless hush of midnight. Snatch the whispers of the Creator of your soul. Hold onto them with white-knuckled belief no matter the din rising all around you.

“What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the rooftops.” –Matthew 10:27

If a thousand others say no— but God still whispers yes— keep going.
Keep making art.
Keep doing that thing He’s sketched on your soul.
Keep loving those people no one else loves.
Keep struggling.
Keep listening.
And know that Adversity is not Failure.

Did you hear that? Because we may need to hear it again– Adversity is NOT Failure. Opposition is not an off-ramp. Struggle is not where we are meant to stop. 

We know who we are. If we really stop and listen, we know who we are– that we are His children. The children of perseverance & patience. Children who know that the God who made us as creatives is the God of “Enough to go all around.”

He is the God of more than plenty.