Anniversary Time
It’s Hard to Hear when you don’t listen
I am at Emerald Isle, North Carolina this week and it is beautiful here. I love the ocean, but I couldn’t tell you why. Maybe it’s just the vast, flat, view. Maybe the sound, ( I can’t hear the sound as good, since my left ear is not working).. Which reminds of what I am seeking. What is God trying to teach me through this ear problem? I think it is something, I just don’t know what. Maybe I need to learn to listen more than I talk. I’m sure that would be something I could work on. Not that I talk a lot, but that doesn’t mean I listen either. Listening is more than hearing. Listening requires us to turn off all those thoughts that come in to our brains the minute someone else is talking to us. We have to cut off the music we constantly hear in our heads , so we can hear someone else. You know what I mean, as soon as a conversation starts, we typically start to think “now how can I say something clever too?” It happens without our control. We have to learn to turn that off, and really listen to the other person. I could learn that. Maybe.
Deserve it?
What do we deserve? Webster defines deserve as “to be worthy, fit, or suitable for some reward.” Wow!
When we pray, we often ask for all sorts of things.. such as, ‘please help us get enough money to buy a boat..’ well that might be extreme but you get the point. ‘please do this and please do that, please give us health and safety and more..’ Sometimes, we don’t even say ‘please’.
I think we need to start praying by saying, “God, You know I don’t deserve your love and attention, as you know my heart and you know my secret thoughts”.. Would it change your prayers?
God gives us so much and He does hear our selfish prayers, but often He gives us mercy instead of what we deserve.
Can’t Hear!
I have been suffering lately with an illness of sorts. This past May, I had a run-in with a bad respiratory infection. That led to a bout of bronchitis, which then led to a strange problem with my left ear. The “Eustachian tube” which connects the ear to the throat, (and equalizes pressure), got blocked and my ear feels like it has pressure and will not open up. This has been going on for 4 weeks now. Fun stuff!.
God uses all these minor aches and pains to do work in us, if we will just listen. ( I wish I would have listened when I had a chance). SO what is God teaching through this?
I’ll let you know.. when I figure it out.
compliments
Psychiatrists tell us it is not the other person’s compliment that makes us feel good; rather it is our own belief that the compliment is valid.
You really like me!!
Sometimes when our boys got older, (even now) , I long to really ‘feel’ that they like me. As teenagers, they are not likely to say such things. In fact the older they get, the less often it is heard. I sometimes want to feel like Sally Field when she got her second Oscar Award. She stepped up to the microphone and blurted out, “You like me. You really like me!”
Oh how us dads, want to hear that without asking for it. But we have to be on guard not to need it so bad, that we are willing to do “ANYTHING” for it. It is so tempting to just give in to those sons many requests , just to try to make them “like me”. This is not your goal. You must do what is right for them. Often this will be the very thing that will prevent those words from being said, at least temporarily. How often our Father in heaven has to endure that same feelings. How often He disciplines us and he knows that it will hurt. We don’t usually run to Him, telling Him how much we love him during those times. But also , how often have we seen His work in our lives and realized He did “those things” because He loves us. Our Father knows best.
Seeker
What do you want? What are you seeking? What wisdom do you want? What are you saying to yourself about it?
People who want something, want to learn something, have to start by saying, ” I am ignorant”..about this. This is the way to start, then seek it! Study, learn , ask questions..
This is how we find God. I am as sure as I can be that when a man ( or woman) decides in their heart that they want to get to know God, they will soon find Him. But first they must realize they “don’t know him”… I am so sorry for the 30, 40 , or 50 year old person that is too proud to seek Him. They are too proud to say, “I don’t know Him, but I want to”.. God is as close to them as the breath it would take to say those words. But He will not force His way in, He needs a seeking heart to ask .
What are you seeking?
PAIN
Pain either destroys a person, or develops a person
pain either strengthens your faith , or sidetracks your faith.
How we deal with pain can be something to teach young boys. Life will consist of pain and pleasure. Often, the pain is where we grow the most, closer to God and closer to man, closer to God through increased prayer and faith, closer to man by learning the powerful characteristic called “empathy”.
See Bruce Wilkinson – secrets of the vine
conscience go to sleep
Do not let the conscience go to sleep… not being used… it is important that we teach our kids to be aware of right and wrong and to think about it.. sometime this is painful because our selfish selves would rather just push the thing out of our mind… so we don’t have to think about it. this could make the conscience go to sleep… and be oblivious to all the right and wrong going on in front of us on a daily basis
