Has anyone ever noticed that the battery in smoke detectors always goes dead and starts chirping after midnight? Within the past 7 months, I have had this happen on 3 different occasions. Other than some lost sleep and the need for an attitude adjustment, thankfully my situation was easily resolved on each occasion.
Only a few weeks ago however, I was at someone’s villa and this individual made the comment that they no longer saw a blinking light on their smoke detector. I asked them if they had a ladder, and even though my childhood nickname was “Klutz”, I climbed to the tallest rung and proceeded to press the “test” button on the detector. Nothing occurred, no blinking light, no sound, nothing. so I unscrewed it and it was hardwired, but I could not find any battery compartment.
The villa was built in the 80’s, and perhaps those smoked detectors weren’t equipped with a battery backup. I kept playing with it while clenching the ladder, still nothing, no light, no sound. I suggested that they may want to communicate with their community association to learn what the protocol was for this apparent electrical/wiring problem. Clearly this had potential safety issues, and the smoke detectors needed testing or replacing. The owner wasn’t too concerned, but said they would ask the neighbors, if they were having any troubles. Although they intended to look into it, it was not a priority, or concern, especially since there was no annoying battery chirp to nag them into action.
Less than a week later I called the individual and they had not yet spoken with anyone to uncover how to have their detector evaluated. They did, however, let me know that only 2 days after I left them, one of their neighbors, whom they share a wall with, had an electrical fire. Thankfully the neighbors weren’t home at the time, but when they arrived home, all of their furniture had melted and the entire home smelled of smoke.
I know that if I were their neighbor, I would be motivated to get my smoke alarm wiring and battery checked and updated or replaced if necessary. It made me realize that even though I had been very annoyed on the recent occasions when my detectors began chirping, I was grateful for the warning and call to action for my own good.
Our physical bodies can have a similar response. When we experience pain, swelling, fever, and a variety of other symptoms, our body alarm is sounding off that something is wrong and we must look deeper to find out the underlying problem in order to resolve it before serious illness, injury or death ensue. God created such an amazing system in our body, if we ignore the initial chirping signs our body communicates to us, we may find ourselves struggling with a far more serious health issue down the road.
Taking healthy preventive measures adds to the safety and longevity of our lives in most cases and is well worth the investment of time, money and effort. Some of those measures involve eating a healthier diet, exercising, taking supplements to give you a healthy advantage, and proper sleep hygiene. Recently I have been excited to engage more fully in my healthy lifestyle choices. I have found that this even improves my social interactions, as I meet more individuals on a similar path to the best vantage point in life. And yes, healthy social engagement is also now recognized as a critical factor to life balance.
You know spiritually, we can have the same occur in our hearts and minds. The Bible is filled with God’s instruction on how to live under His gift of forgiveness, grace and mercy. He has given each of us choice and free will to seek Him and serve Him. When our heart, mind and spirit is hard wired through His Holy Spirit, we will respond to the chirping alarm when we enter a situation or circumstance that may be harmful for our physical, mental or spiritual well being.
If we do not keep our heart and mind sharpened and the battery charged through prayer and time in the Word, our spiritual wiring may grow older and we may no longer see the warning light or hear the chirping alarm of the Holy Spirit. Life circumstances and choices may seem pretty harmless, and we may not even realize that we have grown dull to the effects and influence of behaviors and choices that move us further from His Good and Perfect Will.
I have definitely moved through seasons where my priorities have been compromised, and my attention drawn to relationships, activities and lifestyle habits that contradict God’s plan for my best life. Even though it didn’t seem like that big of a deal at the time, I have, more than once, looked back over a series of years where my heart was drained and broken, due to choices I made while neglecting my relationship with the Lord. I chose my path, while ignoring God’s alarm system provided to guide and protect me.
Thankfully, Psalm 145:13-14; 17-18; 21, says
” The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made. The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down…The Lord is Righteous in all His ways and loving toward all He has made. The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise His Holy Name forever and ever.”
This is Good News! Have you recharged your battery system lately???? mentally, physically and most importantly spiritually????
sandbetweenmytoesdotme 
Isn’t it funny how things like that work out? Sure he never took the time to fix his own alarm however, the annoying cursable alarm disturbing your peace also made you aware of alarms in general. A perfect parable to help explain how God and his benevolence works as well as His overall intent for communal living. If this were a tribe you would be the seer or prophet made aware of an observation or concept and obligated to share news about it with elders and tribal community. So many ways to glean from this story Nanette. Thank you for sharing it. 😺
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