Cut Out The Noise

I love Thursdays! Most people like Fridays, but Thursdays are the day for me. Thursdays are the days each week when I study and plan for the future. I picked this day to do these two things because Thursdays are the quietest days in the office. I get a lot done without many interruptions. That was until yesterday!

It seemed like everyone was in the office yesterday, everyone had a task to do and nobody wanted to be quiet about it. As I sat in my office I could hear people everywhere. There was noise coming from the office to my right, noise from the hallway, I could even hear noise in the lobby (my office isn’t by the lobby). On a usual Thursday I rarely get interrupted, but yesterday was a different story. My office became a revolving door. My phone line and intercom was non stop and my creativity levels had been zapped!

It finally got to the point where I wanted to scream at the top of my voice for the noise to stop. However, being the chilled out person I normally am I decided against it, took my laptop, took some books and found a quiet little room on the other side of the building and started to study and plan.

In the space of two hours I achieved more I believe than I did Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday combined. The reason? The lack of noise. Where I was I could hear a pin drop, well maybe not a pin, but I could think clearly. When I got back, everyone was asking where I had been, they were looking for me etc. They could live without me for two hours, and they did.

This reminded me of Moses when he was in the wilderness with 2 million + people. He often went off in the mountains for days, weeks even months at a time. Jesus also disappeared from the crowds on many occasions. He even ran off into a boat and told his disciples to set sail quickly to get away from the crowds.

I’ve realized that to be an effective leader you need to cut out the noise. No-one can be creative, innovative or hear from God when there is so much noise around. Moses got away to hear from God. Jesus got away to pray and rest. As leaders we must get away from the noise and into the silence so that we can hear, pray and rest.

Church leadership is about the crowds. Without the crowds we have no purpose, but when the crowds become our focus the noise becomes our thermometer. When God becomes our purpose, the silence becomes our sanctuary. So this weekend, take a moment, or a couple of hours to cut out the noise in your life, go find a place of silence, no distractions and start to think, dream and believe. It’s amazing how much God can speak in a moment of silence compared to months of noise!

How do you cut out the noise in your life? What environments do you find your greatest creativity? Let me know your thoughts.