Echo

“Come.  Follow Me.”

Mark 1:17 

Think of a time when you heard an echo.  Maybe you were in the midst of mountains.  Maybe you were on a quiet lake.  Wherever it was, it probably stopped you…grabbing your attention…and fascination.

How often do little kids “echo” what they hear.  It’s usually delightful….not exactly what the original was, but recognizably an echo.  But it can also be embarrassing.

An “echo” involves an original sound, which travels to another surface, causing the sound to bounce in other directions, extending far beyond the original.

Jesus, while on this earth, created an original Sound….”Come, Follow Me.”  It began with one listener, then repeated to more and more listeners, and went on to echo throughout Time…generations, nations, and worlds.  It continues to echo globally….one hearer at a time.

An Echo is not selective about the hearer.  Anyone who is listening can hear that simple invitation. . . whether an echo through sound, or written words, or through the life of anyone who has heard the Echo and chosen to not simply absorb the Sound, but reflect it.

From the time I was a little girl, I heard the simple Message, “Come… follow Me.”  It echoed through the lives of my parents, my grandparents, and many, many people who passed through my life.  But some of the most amazing Echo experiences have been when I’ve heard the Echo reverberating from the lives of people with whom I don’t even share the same language…yet their lives echo the Spirit of God that carried the Sound to their hearts.

I want to be an Echo. . . simply reflecting what came to my ears and went to my heart.   Not complicating or changing the Sound…not muffling it…not selective of who, when, or how the Echo catches their attention.  May the delight of that Sound be reflected  . . . echoed . . . through my life to the world around me.