"Be Quiet Ears"

The sound of birds singing, after a good night’s sleep, it is a harmonious reminder of Spring.  They do not sound so melodious after a long night of an old-fashioned case of insomnia.  Sleepless nights exaggerate sounds and the sweet melody of birds singing becomes aggravating foul chirping.  It makes one want to get a gun and shoot them.

Hearing is a valuable sense that we take for granted.  I pastored a church that had a signing ministry for the deaf.  It was spellbinding watching people sign my sermons.  Signing is beautiful interpretation of preaching God’s Word. 

Every once in a while Laura,  the translator, would make eye contact with the deaf and then with me.  With a look of desperation she would shrug her shoulders meaning, “Brother Bobby I cannot translate your Chilton County, Mars Hill, vernacular.”  I forget that no one has translated all of my native Chiltonian lingua franca into American Standard English.

Experience as a preacher has taught me that listeners do not always interpret everything I preach as I intended.  I have gotten a laugh when I said something serious and I have had people get serious when I intended humor.      

Having a high frequency hearing loss prevents me from hearing every word of a conversation.  I do not hear certain feminine voices or sounds very well.  I have to watch people’s lips, especially if they speak softly.  People  remind me that that is too convenient of an excuse for not hearing women.  Most people hear what they want to hear. 

That reminds me when my daughter Angel was small.  She is the athlete of the family and she loved playing outdoors.  The love for playing outdoors got her into a dilemma with her Pawpaw.

One autumn afternoon, one where it turned very chilly, Angel and her older brother Andy were playing with their cousins at Granny and Pawpaw's house.  As the autumn sun slowly snuggled under the warm blanket of earth, Jack Frost decided to pay a visit to the clean, clear night air.  Angel did not carry a jacket on her visit, so Granny ordered her to the steps that went from the den up to the bedrooms.  Pawpaw had guard duty.

Andy and the cousins did not enjoy being outdoors, but since Granny and Pawpaw sentenced Angel to an evening of torture on the dreaded “punishment steps” for not bringing a jacket, they decided to help Granny with the persecution and have fun outside.  Angel watched them through two large glass sliding doors circle the house repeatedly.  Bundled in warm jackets, they taunted with each circle.

Angel begged and pleaded to go outside only to have Pawpaw remind her she did not have a coat.  He watched, as Angel would slap at her ears, as one would swat at mosquitoes to keep them away.  Angel quietly mumbled, “Shut up, stop it, shut up, quit talking to me. . .”  Pawpaw watched her for several minutes and curiosity finally killed the cat.  Pawpaw asked, “Angel, what are you doing?” 

Angel said, “Pawpaw my ears are telling me to go outside and play.  They say not to mind you and Granny, but I am telling them to shut up, stop it.  They are trying to get me in trouble.”  Pawpaw had a good laugh and Angel stayed on the steps.

When I rescued Pawpaw and Granny from the grandkids and Angel from the dreaded steps, Pawpaw said you gave Angel the wrong name and that he would pay to have her name changed to Devil.  Angel was smart for not listening to her ears.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.  But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry (II Timothy 4:3-5).