Imagine walking into a room filled with a jarring, competing, cacophony of noises and sights: the t.v. is blaring, the radio and Pandora and Spotify are all shouting their selected genres or artists at you, and everyone else in the room is talking maddeningly over each other and all of their cell phones are ringing at once. You wade through the sea of noises to a seat close to the front of the room. I ask you, "Can you hear it?"
You're puzzled at the question and wonder if maybe I'm trying and failing at a bit of humor. I walk to the television and turn it off, and ask again, "Can you hear it?" Well you can't hear the television anymore, but you're still confused by the question. I turn off Pandora and ask again. Then Spotify goes away. The radio. The cell phones. The people quiet, and as the last bit of noise seeps away you do hear it--a soft, steady, calming track of instrumental music that has been playing the entire time, its waves drowned under so many louder, competing ones. I then ask you an even more obvious question than the first: "Why couldn't you hear that when you came in the room" to which the answer is, "because there was too much noise."
Elder Richard G. Scott has taught:
Notice, this is not a quote about how Satan gets at bad people. It is not a quote about sin or temptation, though those are of course tools he often uses. No, this is about how Satan gets at good people. He would pack a person's life with so much "stuff", so many distractions, that the best things suffocate from lack of attention.
We wander in a world stuffed with widespread distraction. So many noises, sights, thoughts, and experiences often assault our spirit that discerning the voice of God becomes like trying to listen to the lap of water against the side of the boat a midst the hurricane. I often wonder if the reason so many today seem to be hearing God less and less is because their ears, eyes, and minds are so full with everything else. "Have you unconsciously been caught in that trap?" And if so, what will you do today to get free?
You're puzzled at the question and wonder if maybe I'm trying and failing at a bit of humor. I walk to the television and turn it off, and ask again, "Can you hear it?" Well you can't hear the television anymore, but you're still confused by the question. I turn off Pandora and ask again. Then Spotify goes away. The radio. The cell phones. The people quiet, and as the last bit of noise seeps away you do hear it--a soft, steady, calming track of instrumental music that has been playing the entire time, its waves drowned under so many louder, competing ones. I then ask you an even more obvious question than the first: "Why couldn't you hear that when you came in the room" to which the answer is, "because there was too much noise."
Elder Richard G. Scott has taught:
Notice, this is not a quote about how Satan gets at bad people. It is not a quote about sin or temptation, though those are of course tools he often uses. No, this is about how Satan gets at good people. He would pack a person's life with so much "stuff", so many distractions, that the best things suffocate from lack of attention.
We wander in a world stuffed with widespread distraction. So many noises, sights, thoughts, and experiences often assault our spirit that discerning the voice of God becomes like trying to listen to the lap of water against the side of the boat a midst the hurricane. I often wonder if the reason so many today seem to be hearing God less and less is because their ears, eyes, and minds are so full with everything else. "Have you unconsciously been caught in that trap?" And if so, what will you do today to get free?
Questions:
- What distracts you from what matters most?
- What will/can you do to limit distractions?
- (by the way, as one suggestion, check out Everyday Distractions
- 11:25 PM
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