Ring Tone Deaf

"Someones purse is ringing!"

"Are you going to answer that?"

"I think someone is trying to call your pocket..."

Confession: I hated cell phones. My first experience with a cell phone was a large bag phone. It wasn't the fact that I looked like I was carrying a purse that bothered me as much as the reason I was carrying a cell phone that looked like a purse. The first cell phone I used on a regular basis was the cell phone for a suicide hotline. Each time that phone rang my stomach churned because I knew that when I answered it I was probably going to be talking to someone who wanted to end their life.

Even though I only carried that phone for about a year, for the next several years my stomach would churn every time I heard a cell phone ring. We've had cell phones for several years now, but I continued my hatred of cell phones...until I succumbed to the pressure of getting an iPhone last year. And part of the reason I enjoy my iPhone is that I can set ringtones so that it doesn't sound like a phone. When someone calls I can enjoy music, or a quacking duck, or crickets chirping... I even downloaded the Geico boss's annoying ringtone. (I love it and it makes the kids laugh everytime they hear it.) I set several of my contacts up with different ringtones so that when they call I know who is calling before I ever pull my phone out of my pocket.

But with all the different ringtones on all the different cellphones ... sometimes the world becomes polluted with ring tones and we become ring tone deaf. We don't hear our own phones ringing. Or we don't recognize that it is our phone ringing. Or we're just not sure where that strange noise is coming from. Forget about global warming - we are experiencing global deafening. Its happened to me many times, but here's one example of my being ringtone deaf. While in the dugout of one of the girls softball games last year, my phone started quacking. I heard the noise and began looking around for the location of the ducks thinking, "why are there ducks quacking at a softball field?"

Recently I've been thinking about God's calling. I'm pretty sure that God calls to us more than we hear. I'm also pretty sure that God calls us to more than we've heard. As I've thought about God's calling, I've been reminded of Elijah sitting in a cave listening for God's voice. Elijah experienced all those things that we typically associate with God speaking - violent earthquakes, strong winds, fire - but God did not call in any of these methods. God's ringtone for Elijah was a still small voice. Sometimes I think life would be easier if God would call and tell me exactly what I need to do. But lately I've been realizing that God is calling - I've just been ring tone deaf because of all the busyness in my life.

Life as I know it is best when I take the time to be still and listen for God's voice. This is a discipline that doesn't come naturally for me. It is something I practice rather poorly at times. But I've found that it is beneficial beyond what I can describe.
Listen. I think God is calling. Are you going to answer?