30 Days of Hearing -- Shredding

Shredding. As in paper being fed through one of those machines. And jazz. As in music coming from Rabbi Spiegel's office. Hallway conversations. Water running through the coffee maker. The UFOish sound of the scanner down the hall. One side of phone call conversations. Telephone rings. Intercoms buzzing. Hum of traffic on the street outside my window. The creak of a chair being leaned back on.

All these and more reminded me that I was back in the office today. I heard these sounds and thought, "It is good." And it is. I am blessed with work. A worthy work. No more worthy, I think, than anybody 'work be they bag boy or local pastor or schoolteacher, but worthy nonetheless. A job that blesses me and hopefully blesses others through me.

And so I took a few minutes to just stop and listen to the sounds that make up most of my day to day existence -- the 9 to 5 routine (actually 8:30 to 4:30) of going to work at the Center for Congregations. And while many of the sounds are man-made, many are human, too. Happy laughter, exasperated sighs, heels clicking on the wood floor of the entryway, a toe tapping in time to music pouring out of computer speakers, and more.

The human sounds remind me that the real reason I am here has nothing to do with the to do lists I compose on my way in every morning. And which can become someone obsessive for me when I feel my progress on them has been interrupted -- by some PERSON who needs something.

To serve the people who are here... that's my purpose here. To make it easier for them to do their work of serving congregations and the people who love them. I need to remember that human dimension and let go of the "to do" dimension.

So now it is just after 4:30. Aaron Spiegel and I are the only ones here. He's on the phone. I'm click-clacking away on my laptop. Soon we'll be off to a work-related dinner and our lives will be filled with human conversation and the blessing that comes with it. Thank God for work sounds.

-- Brent