Whose voice is the one you are listening to?

 I’m constantly amazed by how loud the voices can be around me.  Spouse, children, parents, siblings , friends, co-workers and most of all strangers that have no credibility in your life to be the voices that you let dominate your thinking.

I’m the youngest of 6 kids and with that comes the ability to blend into the background, so you don’t get noticed. With this ability also comes a major liability and that is to blend into the background, which has  made for the interesting part of people watching and observing from that background.  Unnoticed you find out what people feel about you and others.  It came be alarming and surprising all at the same time. I need to decide with each and every moment whose voice is the one that I let into my heart and mind.  Many times I have let the harsh words of others affect my decisions or view of myself. I know you are saying that you don’t have that problem but I am going to let you in on something I have learned about others, they suffer the same insecurities that I have felt.  

Today I witnessed someone I admire be told that they don’t measure up in someone’s eyes and how he dealt with it and talked about it with me showed me that he knows whose voice should be at the forefront of all of our minds.  He is a pastor friend and was criticized for his preaching and yet when he talked about it, I saw someone who has learned to filter and process these criticisms through the eyes of his Lord and Savior and His view of him.  I know this didn’t just happened, he has taken the time in his life to evaluate and spend time with the Lord learning how to know what voices he needs to let into his life.  

Lesson learned today is that we all have to make a conscious decision with each and every interaction whose voice you will listen to!