I’m sitting in the airport as I write this. Camille and I are returning home to Texas after three days in Alabama for a family wedding. This is where I grew up, but I haven’t lived here since I graduated from college. I do have additional “deep south” years invested in Atlanta, Georgia and South Carolina. However, with two stints in Texas – the last one has been for 20 years now – I’ve lost that Southern drawl that came with life in Alabama and across those southern states. But after a very brief time, it all comes back. I find myself giving three syllables to one-syllable words and unintentionally blending in with those Alabama accents. If you’ve never lived there, don’t be fooled  b y the poor attempts of TV and movie producers to make  actors sound like southerners. They think that “y’all” should be used after about every three words and the drawl is always exaggerated. It sounds hokey, not southern. So, as I return home to Texas, I’ll probably be bringing some extra syllables with me, but it won’t take long to lose it all again. As I listened to the voices of family and friends over these days, and found myself picking it up in my speech as well, I thought about how easy it is to fall back into the past. Accents and southern drawls are one thing. They’re pretty harmless falls. But I thought about the fact that it’s also easy to get around people, places and cultural influences from the past that encourage us to slide back into a place spiritually where we don’t need to go. Because, just like that subtle return in the way we speak and blend into long forgotten patterns, we can also slide back into thoughts, conversations, and actions from our past which need to remain in the past. It’s easy to blend in and take up the old patterns of life, even when we don’t deliberately set out to do so. Those old ways can feel comfortable, and before we know it, we’ve begun to live like we used to live. Paul says, in Colossians 3:3, “You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Then he identifies some of the old attitudes and ways that are to be put to death and left behind. And in verses 9-10, he reminds us that, as a believer, “you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” With roots in the deep south, I think a southern drawl is a beautiful thing, and I don’t mind its return. But I need to remember that my past holds some things that can easily and quickly return, but bring death, not life. And to that, I don’t want to go back.

One Wednesday evening, as people were gathering for our Fellowship Meal time, I put my plate on a table and went to get my drink and salad. When I returned I discovered that two young brothers from one of our families were preparing to find a seat for their family meal. One had placed his dinner at the same table I had chosen, but his younger brother was very concerned about his selection. “No! We can’t sit here!”, he was saying to his brother. “Why not?”, asked the older? “Because,” he responded, “we can’t sit by the man who talks!” I loved it! Sounds like a Native American Indian name, doesn’t it? “The Man Who Talks”.

But I’ve been thinking about that issue of talking versus listening lately and have wondered if God hasn’t said the same thing to me at times. He wants me to take time to listen to Him, but I’m often rushing into His presence, doing all of the talking, then rushing out again, leaving Him to say, “I can’t sit with the man who talks.” Or at least, the man who does all of the talking.

We live under media and information overload. There’s always a list of emails, tweets, phone calls, text messages and media voices lining up throughout the day to push information our way. Some, maybe most of it, is good. But lately I’ve been feeling like I’m inundated with so much information that I can’t keep up with it all. There’s always something waiting – a must-read article, an urgent email or text, or a blinking light on the phone which says I have messages awaiting my attention. Many of those communications are important because they represent people. But others don’t rise to the same level of importance, and I must be careful that I don’t treat them as such. If I’m not careful and discerning, I will end up giving my time, energy and attention to every voice that comes my way while allowing them to crowd out the time needed to hear the voice of the One who has the most important things to say.

I’m asking God for that discernment as I delete emails and unsubscribe from some “voices” that I don’t ever remember subscribing to. Sure, I’m keeping a lot of good stuff, such as blogs that I find encouraging and challenging, along with the connections to people and ministries that are always important. But I want to make sure that I’m not giving my best time and attention to everyone and everything else while failing to have un-rushed time to sit quietly in the presence of God, not doing all the talking, but listening to Him in prayer, in His Word, and through the quiet but clear voice of the Holy Spirit.

God, please keep me from being “the man who always talks“.
Pastor Rod