Whispers

Day 34. Whispers.

Going back to a blog post from last week again, about the young woman who moved to Oregon to take advantage of their assisted-suicide laws. I read an awesome article on a blog last night about someone else's take on the situation (basically the same as mine) and a comment there stood out to me.

God whispers. Most of us make too much noise to hear those whispers, let alone see the miracles all around us.

That's a powerful statement.

Most of the time, we're so busy with everything around us that we don't take time to listen to those we surround ourselves with, much less take time to listen to God. We are busy with our smartphones, our HDTV, running the kids to soccer practice. We are busy rushing to catch the train to get to work, speeding down the highway to get to the store. There's always noise to keep us from hearing what's important. Noise that distracts us.

We get so busy living life that we forget to enjoy it. We get caught up in the hustle and bustle, we don't hear the people we love crying out for us. Their whispers eventually turn to shouts, and sometimes even then we don't hear them. If we can't hear the people we've chosen to spend our lives with, how can God ever expect us to hear Him?

I know I've been guilty of not listening. I talked once before about the discussion with my daughter about saying "I didn't care" too often. That was an example of me not listening. I was doing other stuff like cooking, watching television, etc. to really hear her question, so I gave that stupid answer which made her think I didn't care about her. I know I blocked out times when Dave would be moaning about things that I really didn't want to discuss. I know there are still times I'd rather not think about some things. Avoidance isn't a good plan for dealing with life, by the way.

I've tried to do better when I finally did realize it was God talking to me. I guess the times He was whispering and I wasn't listening made Him shout at me. He shouted at me twice now in my adult life, and I can tell you I am listening closely for His whispers now.

If we don't hear God's whispers, we miss out on extraordinary things. He whispers to us at the end of the day: "Look to the West, look at that sunset I made for you." He whispers to us each morning: "Awake, my Child, to the glory of this new day." He speaks to us as we hear children playing in the park, when we listen birds singing, and as we hear someone say "I love you." These are the little miracles we'll not witness if we aren't listening.

Lesson Thirty Four: Do you tune out the things you really aren't interested in dealing with at the moment? Do you take time to look around you and see beauty in the ordinary? Think about things you might be missing if you're not listening.

696 to go...