Are Our Voices Working?

When my family arrived at church on Sunday morning, sweet Olivia felt it her duty to inform everyone that "Mommy's voice isn't working right!" In truth, there was no voice at all. I had begun to notice symptoms Saturday evening. I was croaking, a typical reaction to several days worth of battle against allergy symptoms. When I woke up Sunday morning and tried to speak, no sound at all proceeded from my mouth. And, so, I arrived at church in silence, communicating by whispering (yes, I know - not the best option) and writing notes.

One thing I noticed as we readied ourselves for church that morning was that my children were much quieter than usual - well, the girls were, at least. I don't think Steven has a lower volume right now! As for the girls, though, their automatic response to me was to speak in hushed tones to match my quiet whisper. I jokingly "told" someone at church that I should pretend to lose my voice more often - it might make a difference in my home!

I'm seeing a pattern in my life - I'm realizing that the more I open my heart and mind up to the Lord, the more thoughts start forming in my mind based on simple, every-day events. So, of course, a thought began forming in my mind after that short, quiet conversation.

The thought was this...Are we, as Christians - especially American Christians, pretending to lose our voices? Have we convinced ourselves that the way to keep peace in our society is to be as quiet as possible? We certainly aren't succeeding in that goal. True, maybe we don't have the riots in the streets that Paul caused, but there is no peace around us. Why? Because the peace that the world truly needs can only come from the message that we have to share. And, truthfully, we are not sharing the message. We are preaching it from our pulpits and teaching it in the Sunday school classes, but those lessons aren't meant to affect the lost. Those messages are meant to motivate us to go and tell. Instead, we feign spiritual laryngitis and trust that someone else will use their voice.

Just as I cannot go through each day whispering to my children and expecting them to follow my instructions, we cannot as Christians go through this life whispering to the world that there is a truth they should follow. We must be bold. We must be vocal. We must be loud!