Recently I was with the women of a particular church and we were sharing a dining hall with another group. There was a long table and salad bar separating our two designated eating areas. Thing is, we were all adult women and they were all teenage boys at this retreat center for a math clinic.

As I entered the room the boys had already gone through the line and were busily and noisily eating. Their exuberance carried far and I had a very difficult time holding a conversation with any of the women as I stood in line.

Even when we finally sat down to eat, I had to keep leaning in to the person speaking and asking her to repeat what she had just said. I was annoyed at first, but then I was reminded of how hard it is to hear God in a noisy world.

There are so many layers of distractions; so many other voices raised to decibels hard to ignore. Sometimes you just want to shut down and not try anymore. You think the strain to understand what the Lord is speaking is not worth it.

As I sat in this dining room I found that focusing on the speaker and watching her gestures and straining my ears reduced the number of time I had to say; “What?” When I did that I was able to tune out the other side of the room until I finally forgot the boys were even there.

Don’t give up trying to hear God’s voice no matter how loud it is around you. Put your eyes on the Lord and LEAN IN.