Silencing The Noises

I was having fun this weekend thinking of different noises like squeaking, clanging, banging and rattling and the dynamic of how these sounds are produced.

"Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one." - 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 ESV

'Aspire to live quietly' or as the King James phrases it 'Study to be quiet.' It is indeed a good study because noises can be a great distraction.

What is a squeak and how do you fix one?

It usually takes oil to fix a squeak because two surfaces are in contact with one another moving in different directions. The contact is strong enough to create friction or grab but not strong enough to impede motion. Hinges on doors sometimes squeak because of this. A little oil or WD-40 in just the right place can clear that right up because it eases the fiction of the moving parts.

Study to be quiet.

Clanging and banging are caused be heavy objects striking one another. If an object has a thin exterior it creates a reverberation as the force of the impact is distributed through the object. Cymbals clang. Drums thump in different ways but a rock dropped on the ground just makes a large single thump.

Lastly, Rattling happens because loose objects bump into each other or a surface of some kind because of shared motion or vibration. If you pick up a can with pencils in it and shake the can the pencils will rattle against the can and each other. But if you put a rubber band around the pencils pulling them together so that they touch the rattling will stop.

We love one another but we can rattle, squeak and clang in our relationships.

"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV

"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." - Ephesians 4:29 KJV

Our thinking can give off strange distracting noises also.

"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." - Colossians 3:15-16 ESV

Guilt will wear you down let God's forgiveness ease the friction in your soul. Let grace and mercy be buffers between us and bind us together to ease the impact of our weighty lives.

Love makes for a quiet ride. The noises we do make are made on purpose. Happy musical noises or strong communications but purposed ones... in the world but insulated from the dysfunction and chaos of the world.

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