Broken Record

In the old days, the 70s, music was played on a record player or a phonograph. A record was a round flat disc with a small hole at its center that was used to place it on the turntable. As the turntable rotated the needle would touch the record. As the record rotated the music played beautifully. If there was a flaw in the record - it was scratched or warped, at each rotation. the music would skip or sound warbled. In order for this to stop, the needle had to be lifted and placed on a better part of the record.

Sometimes in life we sound like broken records - we are repeating the same thing over and over again with little variation. What leads us to this circular state? Do we feel unheard? Is our message important and no one is receptive? Or do we have the annoying gene?

When you constantly tell your children to pick up after themselves, yet they don't - you feel like a broken record.

When you ask your spouse to be on time, yet it doesn't happen - you feel like a broken record.

When you've suggested a better option at work and it's not acknowledged - you feel like a broken record.

When you tell your close circle of friends your relationship woes each time you get together - you are a broken record.

In all of these scenarios, you are talking to the wrong person. The next time you feel yourself spinning into broken record land, stop. As a flawed human, take the needle off the record. Look up and talk to God. Pour it all out - your frustration, anger, your minimized feelings, what you wish would happen....pour it all out. Then pause and listen. Ask God for the wisdom to deal with the situation. Perhaps it requires you changing your tactics, perhaps someone else will step in with the same message, perhaps you never mention it again, perhaps the solution has not materialized as yet.

Recognize that you are important and what you are saying is important. Be willing to live with an outcome that you may not have had in mind. If what you're saying is important enough, you will be heard and acknowledged, eventually. It's dealing with the eventually that's hard. Don't become a broken record to those around you, become a broken record to God - He doesn't mind one bit!

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. James 4:8 [KJV]

Casting all your cares on Him for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 [KJV]

Do you ever feel like a broken record? How do you handle it?