Listening.
After many of her lectures to me my mother said that she always got the feeling I was paying attention but not necessarily taking the teaching seriously. I think she could read me like a book. I, on the other hand, have always considered listening to be one of my true strengths.
I love to listen. At family gatherings when the adults gathered to talk, I always sat quietly in the background listening to their childhood stories, their adventures, their opinions, their understanding of faith. It was fascinating to me how grandparents born in the late 1800’s dealt with living before there was even radio, or cars.
Listening takes on many forms. When a parent says “Listen to me,” it often means a lesson is about to occur. Or when someone says, “You have to listen to this”, they are about to share something of interest. You learn by listening. You navigate through life by listening. Listening can make you cautious or safe, joyful or sad, give comfort or concern, cause despair or give hope.
When I was a child and old enough to have the entire town to roam and play in, I always listened for the ringing of the town clock which rang on the quarter hour or hour, to know when play time ended and I needed to be somewhere else. After supper I knew to stay within the sound of my fathers’ whistle to call me home. It was a final warning. The words of others are always a guidance to consult even long after given. In the spring there is the sound of rain, in autumn the roaring wind, in winter the driving sleet, and in summer the sounds of life everywhere.
God too is listening, and just as important, God is also speaking. Do I always listen to God? I must go back to the story of my mother’s lecturing. Yes, God has my attention, I know what is asked of me, but… I don’t always follow God’s path for me.
It’s hard to be a Christian one hundred percent of the time. The attempt is there but sometimes, fear, or time, or stubbornness, or anger—or maybe the attitude to just let another Christian do God’s work—causes me to briefly diverge from that path. There are always regrets and always something to strive to improve. Always a reason to keep listening.
You can’t take time off from being a Christian. It’s a forever job. It will take me a lifetime of listening.
Michael Page