Lessons From An HVAC Unit

If you’ve ever been to 130 Jackson, NLCF’s building downtown, you know that our HVAC unit may or may not be the quietest of units!

Recently, I was at a leadership meeting in 130 Jackson where Jim was sharing about what it looks like to put ourselves in a posture to listen to and hear from God (something that we will be talking a lot about this semester.)  Part of putting ourselves in that posture means that we have to eliminate the “excess noise” in our lives.  You can probably guess what’s included in excess noise – Facebook, tv show upon tv show, video games , always having your earbuds in, etc.  (just to clarify – none of these things listed are in and of themselves bad, but when you start to do them to the extreme, you get the idea!)

So as Jim was sharing I noticed that the HVAC unit cut off and his voice became clearer.  Now, perhaps you are thinking, “Duh! Obviously you are going to be able to hear Jim more clearly if the already not-so-quiet HVAC unit turns off.” But what made me pause and think was the fact that I didn’t really realize the noise of the HVAC unit UNTIL it turned off.  And I thought, what is the “noise” in my life that I don’t even realize is there?  What is that noise for you?

What surprised me the most was the subtlety of the noise.  It wasn’t like when the unit was on that it was completely impossible to hear Jim, but the clarity that came when the noise was removed was definitely enough to draw my attention.

~ Jeanette Staats