The Impact of One Voice

God can teach us a lesson when we least expect it! I was at church last Sunday reciting the traditional prayers and singing the hymns. The person behind me was doing the same but at a much faster rate – about a verse and half off from everyone else. What amazed me was how powerful that distraction was. Try as I might, I could not tune her out. All I heard was her voice over the hundred plus that were in unison.

I was starting to get agitated wondering why this woman was continuing to do this and more so, why I couldn't just block it out. Then, as if God whispered to me, "Do you choose to focus on the one negative distraction or the power and beauty of the hundred other voices around you?" Wow! Those words reached deep within and called out something I am guilty of. There is so much positive in our lives us but how many times do we choose to focus on the few negative things and allow that to distract us away from the positive? What we focus on clearly is a choice we make and God pointed that out to me this past Sunday in a very powerful way.

While it was hard to continue to block out her voice, I realized this is something I need to work on not just for that moment but for every moment in my life. We need to make a conscious decision to ignore the negative and focus on the positive until it becomes second nature. God has provided us with an abundance of the positive, we just need to be willing to tune into that and embrace its fullness.