close

Menu

Portals

What are we listening to?

7th April, from Mr. Lane 

What are we listening to?

I don’t know if it is just us, but in the quietness of there being fewer people and less traffic around, Mrs Lane and I are more aware of the birds singing.  The other morning Bev was listening to the morning chorus from our feathered neighbours, and there was much chirping and “chirruping”.  It was a muddle of discordant sound, with each contributor seemingly wanting to get their noise expressed with no thought of others.  Suddenly, in amongst it all, there came the clear and beautiful song of the blackbird.  The other birds did not stop their tweeting, but for those of us with ears to hear this was the sound worth listening to.

There is much to be heard around us of opinion, speculation and some facts about the current situation.  Much of it is beyond doubt, important, well-informed and intentioned, but it can clash and grate with our inner sensibilities.  Amongst the tweeting we must also be careful to listen out for the clear clarion call of the Sovereign God who loves us, and who has no intention of abdicating at this or any other time.  To this end, Bev and I are finding reading the Psalms particularly helpful, expressing as they do both the knowledge of our human frailties and very real concerns, together with a grateful response to God’s ongoing faithfulness and goodness.  Ps 46 v10 reminds us, in the midst of much turmoil and the shaking of other things in which we may have put our confidence and hope, to “be still, and know that [He] is God”.   His is the voice that we should now, more than ever, listen out for, bringing as it does assurance and hope, comfort and grace.

Mr Lane delivering a lesson during VKHS.