Beep! Beep!

For all of you who have ever moved into a new or different apartment or house, you realize that an adjustment period is necessary in order to become familiar with the sounds of all the gadgets and appliances of the new place. And, the more gizmos you have, the more different sounds there are that require a response, an action, or at least an acknowledgment.



In our current house, the first appliance to "act up" was the dishwasher (see panel above). This particular dishwasher has an apparent aversion to anyone opening the door before the drying cycle is completely finished. The first time Julie and her family came for dinner a beep-with-an-unknown-origin was occurring about every 30-45 seconds. It doesn't take long for something like that to become VERY annoying. Thanks to our son-in-law Brian, with considerable knowledge of electronics, we were finally able to pinpoint that the dishwasher needed to be reset because I had broken its cardinal rule. Relief!



Then, the oven taught me that it has a beep when the pre-heat temperature is reached, as well as a polite timer beep.

The refrigerator door beeps if it is left ajar or if you want to change from ice to water or set the freezer temperature to a setting other than the recommended one.

The alarm pads (shown below), by both the front and back doors, sound 5 quick beeps whenever anyone comes in or goes out -- something the grandchildren delight in hearing over and over and over. :)

On a recent cold morning, this tankless water heater remote unit beeped continually whenever we turned on a faucet letting us know that there would be no hot water downstairs. Those beeps, naturally, led to a frantic call to the plumber/installer.

But, probably the most annoying beep in my house occurs when the timer on the microwave goes off. Under no circumstances will it stop until someone touches the "Off" button. I am convinced it would sound for days on end if no one happened to be home to stop it. The timer on the oven sounds a discreet beep and then stops. But not the microwave. Oh my goodness! It is rude and insistent, yet I find myself using it often because I know I won't be allowed to ignore it.

As I have thought about all of these beeps -- which amazingly seem to be on the exact same musical pitch -- I have wondered why we don't have spiritual warning beeps in our lives to remind us or warn us when we are headed toward sin, bad decisions, or actions we will regret. Wouldn't it be helpful if a beep sounded just before we said something unkind about another person? Before we lashed out in anger? Told a lie? Took our husbands for granted? Put guilt trips on our children or family members? Drove above the speed limit? Accepted too much change from a cashier? Interfered when our words weren't welcome or necessary?

Or what about if a beep could go off in our heads when we're in the voting booth about to pull the lever for a candidate that would represent harmful causes? Or if we were about to make a bad purchase or financial choice that would jeopardize our future? A warning beep could come in mighty handy.

What if we could set timers that would not be silenced until we had completed our daily Bible reading and prayer time . . . had finished exercising . . . or had chosen healthier foods at mealtimes?
What would it be like if we could hear a series of quick beeps whenever a lost person was within our reach? Would we ignore it?

Well, in reality, we DO have a beeper-of-sorts for all of these situations. It's called the Holy Spirit. When Jesus is our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, and, if we allow it, this Holy Spirit guides, corrects, convicts, teaches us and prevents us from going down harmful paths. The secret is in tuning into the Spirit's voice (those incessant beeps) and responding in the ways we've been taught in God's Word.

"And I(Jesus) will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. . . . But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." John 14: 16-17, 26