For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved with simplicity... sincerity... grace...
- 2 Corinthians 1:12
There are voices in my head. Not the kind of voices that should make you pick up the phone and call me out of concern. (Does anyone call anyone anymore? Phones used to do that.)
These voices sometimes condemn, or at least attempt to. Some are calming. Some are motivational, and others just the opposite.
I find that what I focus on tends to produce the loudest voices. For instance, If I'm working out a voice pops up that says, "You're doing all right for an old dude." Then another, "Remember when you used to have shoulders that actually functioned? Yep, you're losing it Paunch DeLeon." When I get a money focus, the voices tell me how little I have or how near a financial catastrophe may be. Then another tells me how incredibly fortunate I am.
Voices... you get the picture. They don't stop with bank accounts and gym mirrors though. The voices get more intimate. They speak to my worth. Some are not very approving, and can get down right ugly. But there is another voice. With a persistent whisper it cuts through the cacophony - through the fog of sounding horns. This voice tells me I am valuable. I am loved. I am OK.
When I align myself with the voice of the gym mirror my life can get a little dysfunctional. My thinking off. My focus strays. When I listen too closely to (the) Benjamin's voice, again I start down a rabbit hole, thick with the aroma of arrogance and fear.
The power of these voices is comparison. And it is a stranglehold.
But when I hear the whisper; when I focus and tune in to the melody of that voice, I am freed. I am released from the clutches of comparison. I am awakened to the worth placed on me by the only One who has the right to ascribe value. I hear a love song with my name.
And I begin to hum along.
As I join in the chorus I realize I am no longer self-focused. Comparison and condemnation wane. I begin to see with the eyes of The Singer himself. I begin to sing with his voice. As Paul states, I begin to live in simplicity... sincerity... grace. My conscience is baptized, and the result is an authentic life.
God, help me to hear the song of The Singer. Create an authentic life.
For now...
D
