Have you ever thought that you may have become desensitized to something? Have you got to the place where you don’t notice something or it’s not as effective as it once was?

For instance, if you walk into the house when someone has just cooked up a batch of fish, the fish odour is overpowering. You want to plug your nose, try not to breath more than you have to. But after a while, if you stay in that environment, you don’t smell the fish any more; you become accustomed to it.

This same thing can happen in our bodies. If you take a certain penicillin for a long enough time  it doesn’t have the same benefit for you. Your body becomes desensitized to it and you need to find something else to help you get better.

It happens all the time and every day. We just don’t appreciate what’s around us.

Take, for instance, the beauty of the trees turning colour. We can be driving through rural Ontario during the height of the colour change of the trees yet not really notice it. We’ve seen those colours so many times that we don’t “ooh and awe” around every bend in the road.

This week it happened to me in another way.

We had a guest at our church who came to give us a report on a ministry he was involved with. Just before the service, as usual, the worship and tech teams gathered in a corner near the front of the church to pray. I then went to sit down with our guest and the worship team took to the platform.

Just as they hit the first few notes of the first song, our guest turned to me and said, “You have a really great team there”.

I said something like, “Ya, they are a great bunch”. But then I looked at them – no, I really looked at them.

As the music started to emanate from their instruments and their voices blended together, I started to have a new appreciation for our worship team.

I got a little proud of that group up front.

It’s not that I didn’t think they were great before our guest made that comment, it’s just that I had become accustomed to them being up there. I was desensitized to what they bring to the service, to how good they sound together, to the skill with which they perform.

It was great because, as we continued with the worship, it was like I was experiencing it for the first time, all over again.

It wasn’t new, but it was like it was new, fresh for me again … like the first time in the fall when you see a maple tree with its leaves turned bright read. Your senses are awakened and you soak it all in.

Here’s the thing: We can become pretty complacent at church, so much so that we focus on the negatives: I don’t like the songs; the sound wasn’t right; I didn’t like the topic; the people weren’t that friendly; there were too many people, or not enough people. (Feel free to add your personal favourite complaint of church.) All of that comes from being desensitized to the wonder, the beauty, the goodness that’s around you. The great news is that you can be re-sensitized to it all so that it’s fresh and new and amazing again. Just step back and reset your senses and then take in all the beauty of the colours of the landscape before you.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you find you get desensitized to most easily? Leave your comment below.