It’s the end of finals week and I, quite frankly, am dead.

I have subsisted this week off of a surprisingly low amount of sleep, and embarrassingly high amount of cramming for testing, and a worryingly increasing amount of caffeine.

It has quite possibly been one of my best weeks in college so far.

There’s a certain level of excitement that comes from finals week. It the end of classes, you get to look forward to a big ol’ break at home with family and friends, and you don’t have to live off of Ramen and pizza rolls (thanks mom!).

But there’s always a level of busyness and distraction that comes along with finals week and the descent into a break. I know I have felt that manic craziness seeping into my life over the last couple of weeks.

There’s a passage from C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters that comes to mind, wherein Screwtape (a greater demon) tells Wormwood (a lesser demon charged with his first “Patient” to drive away from God) about the importance of Distraction and Noise – the two being their own entities used by demons in their plight against mankind.

Music and silence–how I detest them both! How thankful we should be that ever since Our Father [Satan] entered Hell–though longer ago than humans, reckoning in light years, could express–no square inch of infernal space and no momne to f infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces, but all has been occupied by Noise–Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is eultant, ruthless, and virile–Noise which alone defends us from silly qualms, despairing scruples and impossible desires. We will make the whole universe a noise in the end.

C.S. Lewis, ‘the screwtape letters’

“We will make the whole universe a noise in the end.”

I fear that is what often happens to me during weeks like finals. I get so stressed and distracted I get caught up in the Noise of it all–a noise that is likely not what I was meant to hear.

There are two things Screwtape detests: music and silence. I wonder if he hates music because of our command to “make a joyful noise”? I wonder if he hates silence because of our command to rest and honor the Sabbath? Perhaps the reason Screwtape detests music and silence is because those are two things that remind him of the presence and existence of God.

The reason this week has been so good for me is not because of the finals and stress/busyness/Noise that came along with all of that. The week has been good because of the silence that friends have encouraged me to take, along with the music and joyful songs we have all gotten to share together (read: late-night worship nights/dance parties/and impromptu jam sessions).

I find it far too easy to become caught up in the Noise of the world nowadays. Sometimes it takes a reminder to step back and either sit in silence or learn to sing to remind us of the Presence that exists behind it all.

That is what has made this week so good. Behind it all, God is good.