Asa said to his people, “While we have the chance and the land is quiet, let’s build a solid defense system, fortifying our cities with walls, towers, gates, and bars.” 2 Chronicles 14:7a (MSG)

Foley artists are the people who reproduce ambient everyday sounds for use in movies. There is a whole industry around sound effects and ambient sound. Some sound engineers will go into remote locations with recording equipment just to record  the sound of birds in the morning, the sound of a flowing stream, or the sound of crickets and locusts in the night.

A few years ago I read an article about one of these artists who specialized in recording natural, ambient sounds. He explained that there was a growing problem of finding places of quiet. No matter where he went, the sound of man and technology impeded his goal of getting a pure ambient recording. Planes fly overhead, vehicles can be heard on a distant highway, or the cell phone of one of the crew members rings.

Isn’t that a good word picture for life? There are so few moments of real quiet unless I seek them, carve them out of my schedule, and consciously shut things off.

King Asa found a rare time of quiet and sought to make productive use of it. I read today and wondered what use I make of the quiet in my life. Then I start to wonder how much quiet I really experience. Is it getting harder to find, or am I just not actively seeking after it?