Listening??

Picture a crowded party, lots of folks jabbering over each other, perhaps a band playing, servers shuffling dishes, etc.  It is a noisy picture.  Sometimes in those situations with all that extraneous noise we converse "politely"...we don't actually hear everything the person we are talking to says, but we pretend we do and we carry the conversation on anyway.  Each person in that conversation is perhaps doing the same thing.  Do you ever wonder how much was lost in that conversation?

Say you just got home from a nasty day at work, and on the way home traffic was horrific.  Once home, the kids are jabbering away with all the "exciting" kid stuff from that day.  All you really want to do is just kick the shoes off, sit back in the easy chair, and maybe have just a few quiet moments reading the paper.  While the dinner is still being cooked, the wife wants to come in and just share some moments with you.  Sometimes listening to that conversation is just hard to do.  I've done my share of "perfunctory" listening in similar situations.  You know...act like I'm listening, nod at the right time, give a grunt or two at the proper moment...but not really listening.

Sometimes our prayer life is pretty much like those two examples.  Sometimes not at all.  Sometimes even the opposite.  Like those times when we are so busy praying to God, that we are not praying with God.  We talk so much we can't possibly hear what He has to say....or we are just "doing our duty" by praying, and don't take the time to hear.

Prayer is a funny thing.  It is a two way street.  There are two talkers and two listeners...us and God.  He is always there to listen to us.  We are sometimes there to listen to him.

 

 

This may be one of the best prayers I can lift up occasionally.....just to remind myself that I talk too much.