Looking for answers

Uh huh. Yes. Oh really?

Perhaps one of the annoying habits and the hardest to break that people possess is not listening to what other people are saying.  Not just nodding politely, but is one actively listening with understanding in their eyes?

Guilty. I am so guilty of this. 

Over my lifetime, my mind has always been wandering, thinking about what I want to say in answer to their words. I want to tell my story! Let me interrupt you and tell my story. Their last sentence comes to a logical end, then I grab the reins before they reach the full stop.

Their eyes glaze over briefly before I hit my stride and then they relax. Oh, well, they think, politely smiling. Are they also mind-plumbing for their next reply?

It doesn't end with conversations. When our progeny were small, I would sit in church and the pastor would be preaching, sincerely presenting the Word of God. I fed my youngest progeny Cheerios and let the middle progeny play with his cars. The oldest one was quietly drawing.  

What was I doing? Hearing Pastor talk and nodding my head in agreement. What was I really doing?  

I was wondering if the crock pot chicken would be done. Would Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce) be on after I washed dishes? Did I move the wet clothes to the dryer?

Yes, inane random thoughts would invade my brain, while I nodded in response to God's message.

Perhaps the worst not-listening is when God is talking to me.

We have an on-going conversation throughout the day with me querying Him and then hearing His first four words, before I jump in: Yes, I am right.  Then my mind wonders off to laundry or dinner.

Let God Talk.  Then, wait. Don't cut Him off. He knows what you are going to say, but He wants you to hear Him. 

Let God Talk. He knows the answers to questions you are asking. He understands your fears, your worries. God is in charge. 

Let God Talk. He has a plan for your life. Even though you groan and shout at Him, He is big enough to absorb your pain and your anger.

Don't interrupt God. Don't ignore God. Don't guess what He is going to say.

Be still and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10

Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened. Matt. 7:7

Let. God. Talk.

AND then LISTEN.

 

He listens. Do we?

 

Eyes Wide Open

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My small rural town in the 1950s was a close community where it was understood that each life impacted the entire town.  If there was an illness or injury, no one needed to ask for help.  Assistance flowed into that family’s home.

There was an understood, unspoken responsibility each person maintained for the people of the town.  If one had an alcohol addiction or was mentally unstable, everyone knew about it.  Everyone cared about what happened.  And, each family actively supervised their problem.  What this one person did affected every other person.

Many many years after I had grown and left this town, things changed.  A generation died off; my generation relocated where there were jobs.  The dynamics shifted and new unknown people moved into the emptied houses.  This was a different town.

There was a boy who was odd—that’s what my mother called him. When he was in school, no programs or aid had existed for this boy who was essentially barely able to button his shirt, let alone talk or read.  When he was about ten, his parents kept him home and attended to his needs.

One day, this mentally disturbed and developmentally delayed boy (now grown to a man) went to the grade school.  Thirty years had passed since he had been there, but this man still possessed great anger about those years in the back of a classroom where he was teased and belittled.  Angry about the teacher who had been ‘unkind’, he took a double-barreled shotgun with him.

There was a confrontation, but everyone knew him and was able to prevent what could have been horrific.  The teacher retired shortly after.

If this happened in my small hometown in the 1980s, why is it any surprise that crazy events happen now…most people live in one town and work in another…neighbors come and go…most towns have been merged with other towns into one big city glop…

Be watchful and speak up.  See someone behaving strangely?  Call the police.  Don’t ignore the obvious signs of danger.  Pay attention.  Keep yourself and others safe.  The responsibility is ours.