I’ve always loved Saturday mornings. As a kid, I’d watch cartoons. It was my favorite day of the week. In many ways it still is.

For years I’ve gotten up before Monieca, sat at the counter in our kitchen while drinking coffee and reading the newspaper and the Bible. Now days, I surf for news online and read the Bible. I like it because it’s quiet. It’s my weekly time of peace and being alone.

But this morning it’s not quiet. One of our neighbors is having a new well drilled and the constant hum of the motor cannot be drowned out by my instrumental worship music. To make matters worse, I think I’m getting a head ache.

We live in a culture that does not promote quiet. The truth is we’re often afraid of quiet – perhaps because we get so little of it. I think the bigger reason we struggle with quiet is because periods of quiet force us to think, to reflect, to evaluate our lives, to hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us. It’s easier to keep busier. That way we don’t have to do the hard work that comes with hearing from God…the hard work of growing and changing. So instead we keep busy and keep the noise loud, even as we complain about how busy we are and how loud our lives are.

The truth is most of us can find moments of quiet if we really wanted. Those moments are important to me…they have blessed me. Today just isn’t one of them.

Pastor Steve Hogg