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Clearing the Noise
Photography by Laurie Pace
Devotional Reflection, Renewing the Mind through Scripture
Romans 12:2 — Clearing the Noise, Clearing the Canvas
This morning I was listening to Grace Oasis Morning Prayer, centered on Romans 12:2 and other powerful scriptures. I am a bit late blogging this week, mostly because priorities seem to shift daily. My top priorities remain the same: time in the Word, writing, and walking three to four miles before breakfast. Still, life has a way of crowding the margins if we let it.
Early Life & Faith Journey
There was much to unpack in the prayer—earthly desires versus God’s desires for us. Of course, those desires look different depending on your age and season of life. Looking back, I wish I had developed earlier the passion I now have for God’s Word. I wish I had learned, at a young age, to pause and ask what God would want for me rather than choosing what seemed like the “next best thing” from a worldly point of view.
Even as a child—around five or six—I remember praying in bed. I knew, as surely as I knew my own name, that God was in heaven and that He was truly in charge. Yet I did not lean on Him the way I should have in elementary school, or even in high school. We went to church, but faith was not something I actively lived out day by day. I don’t place blame anywhere but on myself, though I do recognize that spiritual “covering” was not emphasized the way I now understand it should be.
Despite my missteps, I always felt God’s presence—especially in my late teens and twenties—even when I wandered off the path. The church environment of the 1960s was very different from today, and the world of the 2020s is almost unrecognizable by comparison. Still, God remains faithful.
The Challenge: Too Much Noise
The heart of Romans 12:2 calls us to transformation by the renewing of our minds. And that renewal requires us to turn down the noise.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
We live in a world that has become a kind of dumping ground—where we take in everything: too much news, too much media, too many opinions, too many possessions, too many stories that aren’t even ours. My daughter recently told me she cleaned out her phone and removed apps she rarely used. That simple act struck me deeply. We had talked weeks earlier about her youngest, now almost 11, and the desire to limit online presence before it ever takes root. We also talked about all the FRIENDS we have on Facebook. Most we do not even know them.
Practical Steps
She encouraged me to start the process—remove what I don’t truly need. Why do we cling so tightly to every new thing we discover? Haven’t we already taken in enough?
I am just as guilty with hundreds of photos of flowers, skies, and everyday moments. Beautiful things, yes. But why do I feel the need to capture and keep them all? Flowers bloom, wither, and bloom again. So do we, in our own way. Trying to cling to every moment is like trying to catch the wind.
Renewing the Mind
The constant pull of the world—news cycles, social media, online comparison, following the lives of people we don’t even know—was never God’s intention for us. He meant for us to live simply, fully present in the moment, not buried under the weight of everything we consume.
We need less:
• Less media
• Less internet
• Less spending
• Less idle talk and comparison
• Less clutter in our homes and closets
• Less noise in our hearts
Reflection
How do we get there? Only through our Father.
Spiritual growth must come first. Somewhere along the way, generations that once valued relationships and stillness became distracted by abundance and constant connection. How do we reach the younger generations now?
One day at a time. By working on ourselves. Our homes. Our families.
“I wish for you, my friend, this happiness that I have found.
You can depend on Him, it matters not where you are bound.
I’ll shout it from the mountaintop, I want the world to know,
The Lord of Love has come to me—
I want to pass it on.”
That is my hope and my prayer—that in simplifying our lives and renewing our minds, we allow God’s love to shine through us in quiet, meaningful ways, and that we faithfully pass it on.
• renewing the mind • simplicity in life • faith and distractions • trusting in God through life choices • God through our life seasons
Laurie is an international artist, her paintings are collected in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, DuBai, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, St Thomas, Romania, Greece, Croatia, and Ecuador.
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