Sonic Boom

  Ouch!  Another sonic boom, unleashed by the nearby air force base.  The house shakes and rattles on its columns, and in my mind’s eye I see new cracks appear on the walls, cracks that are visual manifestations of the broken sound barrier.  I think of how sound alone can rip and tear, how voices raised in anger can weaken the walls of our hearts and shred the wallpaper of our self-image.  My home seems so sturdy, but like life itself, it can be ripped apart by anger and raised voices, rent by insults and accusations.  Patched walls are never quite the same; the seams show through like raised scars in the walls—like scars in our lives.  Please, Lord, guard and guide our voices.  May we use words and volume that never tears apart.  May our voices—may my voice—speak in words and in tones that are reassuring and husked.  Speak through me, Heavenly Father so that voice is heard as a sonic bond—not a sonic boom. Amen.