“Deactivate Your Alarm” by Toya Poplar
Woke up. Tried to meditate. Couldn’t focus. My car alarm was going off. No one in my house could hear it. My husband wanted to be close but I was so distracted we couldn’t connect. We kept getting interrupted because he had to deactivate my alarm.
There were three false alarms.
Nothing was wrong. No one tampered with it. My car was crying wolf. We lost time that we’ll never get back fooling with a false alarm.
Though he deactivated it, I felt defeated. I didn’t know how to deactivate my own alarm.
● What if it goes off while he’s not here?
● Who will deactivate it?
● Will I have to bother my neighbor?
● Am I disturbing everyone’s peace?
● Is this a temporary fix?
● Will I have to read the manufacturers’ manual?
● Is this bothering everyone else as much as it is bothering me?
It didn’t go off all day, but if things were quiet for too long I felt like it would. Even if I wasn’t focused on it, it consumed my thoughts. When I asked how he deactivated it he said, “I opened all the doors and closed them again. Which means a door was left open.”
What happened to my car has happened all too often in my life. I leave a door open in my thoughts that consume my attention. I can’t be close to those I want to connect with because my alarm is sounding even if no one in my household can detect.
My husband has spent more years than I care to confess “deactivating my alarm.” We’ve lost precious time we can never get back because I didn’t know how to disarm my alarm.
I’ve had great conversations, heard incredible quotes, listened to powerful sermons and received wonderful words of affirmation. Despite all the assistance or motivation that comes from external sources, it is important that we each know how to disarm our own alarms.
Explore every open door in your psyche and slam it shut if needed. It doesn’t matter how you look to your neighbors. It’s better they witness you do the necessary work to deactivate your alarm than for you to try to pretend that your alarm isn’t going off.
Sometimes we can figure out how to deactivate an alarm through trial an error, but a foolproof way is to open the manufacturer’s manual and read.
My husband is an engineer that happens to be a great mechanic. He is quite skilled at troubleshooting when things go awry. As much as he knows me well, he is not my Maker.
No one can fix something like the manufacturer.
As much as an alarm is an irritation to all who hear it is still an indication that something is not right.
Pay attention to your alarm.
One day it might alert you that a door is left ajar. Another day it may deter a thief that tries to steal your car.
Have you left a door open in your spirit that’s triggering your internal alarm system?
One way I have learned to deactivate my alarm is to meditate on Psalm 91.
What are some ways in which you’ve learned to deactivate your alarm?
Please leave your feedback in the comment section below.
Written by ~ Toya Poplar
Toya Poplar is an author, speaker, and counselor. Married to her best friend and high school sweetheart, they are the proud parents of six of the coolest kids in the cul-de-sac.
Toya authored the Amazon Best-Selling journal, Stop Write There. She is a community advocate who promotes racial reconciliation by hosting diversity dinners.
Toya’s goal while speaking is to create an atmosphere in which people get what they need from God and what they don’t know they need from each other.
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