Listen, Listen

Listen and Obey?

I was at the jewelry store in Stoughton, WI, with my sister...looking at some of the jewelry there.  Much of it is inspirational.  The name of the shop is "Diakonos", and the owner of the shop feels it is not just a business, but a ministry. They carry many beautiful items of all types, but you can also build your own piece using the beads and charms they carry there.  

My sister and I had been talking early that day about her life and her challenges in raising two teenage sons.  She had made a declaration that she was going to really try to "listen" to her boys while she was in WI, visiting.  She wanted to ask them questions and truly listen to them.  From my experience, it is often difficult to actually listen and hear what our children are saying because we are continually responding to them the moment they speak...correcting them, disciplining them, encouraging them, challenging them...(if only in our thoughts). This makes it difficult to listen and take in the whole of who the really are.My sister's goal to "listen" made sense to me and I encouraged her to follow through with it.You see, my own children are all grown and have left to live their own lives.  She thinks I am "older and wiser". (Of this I am not so sure!) 

As we were shopping, we saw a very pretty set of earrings that said on one ear, "listen" and on the other ear, "obey".  I showed them to her and said she ought to get them as she was working on being a better listener.  Her reply to me was, "I'm interested in being a better listener, but I've never been good at the "obey" part, and I doubt that will change!" We both laughed at that, and went on our way.

I was thinking about that when I got home.  We usually expect our children or our significant friends or spouse to listen to us and change, or "obey", yet it is so hard for us to do it ourselves.  In the serenity prayer, we say we say we must accept the things we cannot change, and change "the things we can"....yes...WE are the ones who need to change!Change...aka..."obey"....is not that easy.

There is just something about the word "obey" that implies that there is someone or something over us, dominating us and directing us to do in a way that is contrary to our own self will.  I guess that's the point, though.  We forget that ours is a loving God, who cares for us and knows the power in following His(Her) will for our lives.  We must first "listen" and accept the call or direction when we hear it...and then ultimately we must "obey" and trust.

God Calling  (March 28th) says,"Faith and obedience will remove mountains of evil, mountains of difficulty.But they must go hand in hand."

Oh! How great it would be if the mountains of difficulty could be removed!  Obey!

P.S. I bought my sister a pair of earrings the other day that say, "Listen" and for the other ear, "Listen"! I thought that would be a good place to start!