The Museum of Endangered Sounds

The Museum of Endangered Sounds

In the Meta age of the web where our visits to local landmarks and tourist traps can occur digitally, the virtual destination to the Museum of Endangered Sounds is a fun stop. As you peruse this online display of audio artifacts, you have the opportunity to listen to those nostalgic sounds of dial-up internet, television white noise, and the rewind of a VHS tape.

And as sounds come and go with technology, the same is true within our homes.

There are some sounds, like a baby crying or a child asking, “Mommy, can you help me?” that only have a short season, moving from vibrant living to extinction.

Then there are other sounds within the home—like a father screaming at his child or a wife criticizing her husband—that can breed and overpopulate the home, yet desperately in need to be put on display in our Museum of Endangered Sounds.

There are others items within our Museum of Endangered Sounds that urgently need an act of conservation and rescue, like the sound of “I love you,” and other words of meaningful affection and affirmation.

My wildly exaggerated response of anger created a need for repair. But not only repair, my husband and I needed some clarity. I apologized for my reaction, some of my words, and my tone. He forgave me. But as I dug deeper, I realized part of the anger was legitimate because it really wasn’t toward him. My husband’s strengths and skills had been overlooked by others in the recent past. In the end, after our “repair,” he knew how much I saw in him and how much I need and love him. It ended up being a moment for blessing, words spoken that called out the good in him.

Much of the Christian life is the deliberate discipline of “putting on” and “putting off.”  As we strive to put off the harsh sounds of condemnation and anger within our homes, may we also mark the year 2022 with the intentional framing and delivering of a personal blessing to those closest to us.

King Solomon reminds us in Proverbs 18:21 that words cannot only kill, but they can also bring life. And some of the most life-giving words are packaged in a blessing.

Throughout the scriptures, a blessing was a public way to show favor and pleasure in another person. Words spoken over a loved one often included phrases like I love you. The good I see in you is… and I challenge you to…

Unfortunately, too often these sounds of affection are endangered within our home because the moment we express our love to one another, we place ourselves in a vulnerable position, opening ourselves up to possible outright rejection or that our expression of love might be ignored. Other times we keep silent, assuming the other person knows how we feel. However, silence only breeds confusion, causing another to fill in the blanks—possibly with distorted truths.

Our Sounds…Our Challenge

By being confident in our Creator’s love for us and his calling to voice that love to others, let’s all take a moment before rushing head into 2022 to intentionally sit down with those we love and express our value with actually voicing the words, “I love you.” Let’s meaningfully and specifically call out their strengths and what we value about them. And to challenge each other to future opportunities to verbalize his or her unique talents in God’s plan of restoration, beauty, and renewal for this world.

In our home, words and sounds ebb and flow. We mess up and hurt each other. We risk and we forgive. In the end, we’re committed to come back to the softening and empowering sound of blessing the best we can.May we seed our homes with life-giving words, cultivating them towards a consistent sound for all the years to come.