2002-07-20 - Listening

I remember going to my grandmother's house when I was a little girl. The most wonderful two weeks of the summer were spent at her house. She would let us clean out her jewelry drawer. She had the most gaudy BIG jewelry I had ever seen, but that didn't matter, as she let us rearrange the drawer and try on anything we wanted.

She let us play with her shoes (especially the ones we called "cockroach killers" with the pointy toes), and affectionately called me "Nanny." She taught us how to iron clothes and make pizza,, and she always had homemade cookies and iced tea (19 tea bags two cups of sugar and one cup of lemon juice in a BIG pot). But the thing I remember most about my grandmother was that she always took the time to listen to me. She encouraged me and reminded me that I could do whatever I put my mind to do.

This past week, I discovered that Jenny,our daughter, has the same taste in jewelry that her great-grandmother had. That was not the only thing I learned. Jenny was talking to me (verbal communication is a gift she has had since she was two), and I kind of got caught up in doing something else. In the middle of talking, she burst out laughing. She kind of startled me, and I asked her what she was laughing at. She said, "You! You're not listening to me!" "Sure I was," I said. Well, I asked you if I could run away and get married and you said, "Ah-Hugh." (She's 12)

Okay, so I wasn't listening. I was busy with one of the million things that seems to fight for my attention during the day. Jenny and I laughed, I apologized and we had a good talk. I realized that maybe I don't spend enough time listening like I should. I wonder how often I miss hearing things that God is saying to me, because everything and everyone else has my attention. I wonder if in my "busyness," I brush Him aside with a simple "Ah-Hugh" when he is wanting me to really listen.

You know: Yes I prayed my prayer list, yes I read my chapter and now I am off to the races with the other things that are so very important. The Lord brought to my mind Psalm 46:10. "Be still, and know that I [am] God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."

That is going to be my prayer this week, that I would be still and hear His voice.

Psalm 122:6

In His Service,
Rick and Sandy

 Liv4Yeshua@cfdevotionals.org
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