What's That Noise?

The growing din may well be God knocking. Are we listening?

Living in a townhouse, it happens all the time: A muffled noise, emanating from nowhere. For a while, I heard a scratchy-tumbley noise in my walls but couldn't find the source. Now I'm pretty sure it's a critter living in my attic. As long s/he doesn't raid my fridge or cuddle up, we're good. Sometimes, it's a distinctive knock. "Is that the door?" Often, there's nobody there. The other night, however, I ignored a faint tap until it grew loud, and was surprised to find an actual human on my front porch. Likewise, the ever-growing din of mutant viruses, wacky weather, financial crises, civil unrest, increased violence, political shenanigans, and the resulting impacts like angst, outrage and isolation seems to beg the question: What's that noise?

Naughty knocking.

My classroom has four doors: Two on a well-traveled hallway and two on an adjacent classroom. I'm also next to a utility room and the girls' busy bathroom. Beyond the oft-rowdy youngsters, I hear noises all the time--including obvious knocks. Almost daily, I answer to find the hallway empty. A prank, a groaning water pipe, a kicked wall, a dropped book...Who knows?

The other day, some of my students snuck into the vacant classroom next door, rapping lightly on the walls at random. Later, they laughingly showed up to confess they were just having fun. We all chuckled at the benign mischief.

The current noisy knocking is anything but giggle-worthy.

Memes exhausted 2020 as a singularly bad year that would be neatly wrapped up on December 31. We expected the promise of a vaccine and new leadership would herald a better 2021.So far...uh...not so much.

Supernatural aside.

If you're not spiritually oriented, you may think...

Wacky weather = Climate change. Yes! We need to take care of our planet. (Revelation 7:3, 11:18 +++!)

Financial crises = Corporate greed. For sure! Financial inequity is rampant and wrong. (1 Timothy 6:10 +++)

Epidemics = Biological tinkering. Absolutely! We've messed with nature much too much! (Luke 21:11 +++!)

Increased crime and violence = No doubt! We've really gone off the rails with hatred. (2 Tim. 3:1-5 +++)