Make some noise!

I'm at the swamp today. There is both life and death here. There's something scary AND enticing about the swamp. Despite the name I've given it, there is beauty here...with the lush green colors in the trees and grass and bushes, the beauty of the water, small islands, blue sky...nature as God created it at its core.

There is also the overgrowth of trees and bushes along the trails, the trash, fallen dead trees, wildlife that can strike intimidation into me, mud, a half-rotted railroad tie, dead leaves and sticks and swamp growth cluttering the water's edge....

As I walked up to the water, something exuding life leapt into the water, and as I squatted down, taking in the landscape, a big splash startled me--maybe a beaver, or some other water-loving creature, entered the water several yards away from me. It can be a bit scary not knowing what lurks around you...and then knowing what does.... It can feel very vulnerable.

This is also the world around me.

It can seem so scary, intimidating, corrupt and dead...yet there is life in it because it's God's creation and He breathed life into it. The question I ask myself is, "How can I draw out life from what is corrupt or threatening or appears dead?"

At the swamp, what arouses life?
My silence: when I'm still and life resumes its normal course.
My presence: when I make noise that disrupts the normal flow of activity...maybe arousing fear, maybe arousing attention to what's important, and bringing about change.

I live in a corrupt world...a swamp or sorts. As I sit silently, life will resume normally around me. But if I make some noise...godly noise, I will disrupt the norm and effect change. The change will be disruptive...sometimes leading to godliness and sometimes greater ungodliness. But if I don't live with a VOICE in my world, not even good change results.

...So my sister is getting married. I've already been forewarned that some of her friends may present things at her shower that I would consider in poor taste. Some of these people want to help plan the shower...and I'm aware of the type of cake they want to get.... My heart sinks, yet this is the world (it's Babylon...if you did Beth Moore's Daniel study). As I think of how to respond, I wonder about challenging them toward life... "There is something much better in you than that...you have something good, something so much better to offer." It's what God has breathed into them...that only He can cause to grow to fullness of life.

I want to find and draw out the life from what has become so corrupt. I want to make some noise!