Have you ever stood in your house and wondered - knock knock knock "Hello - is anybody listening to me?" The other day I sat the children down to give daddy a call at work on our speaker phone. As we began to talk to daddy, the one child could hardly wait to talk and was butting in. I told the child to be quiet and listen to the conversation. Finally, it was this child's turn to talk to daddy. While this child talked - the other one got up and began to spin in circles. I quickly sat that child back down and said "listen to the conversation". Then I started to talk to daddy and there was silence on the other end - "are you there?" I said. "Yes, I'm listening." He answered. And right there I had an epiphany!Everyone in the world just wants to be heard. We want someone to listen to us when we talk and if we are going to have peace in our home, we need to fine tune our listening skills!
Last Friday I shared My Personal Word of the Year. This week, I have chosen a theme "word of the year" for my family and the word is "Listen".
We need to practice Listening to God. The children need to work on listening to mommy and daddy. My husband and I need to work on listening to the children (we are not exempt from the family goal - the children need to know we are humbly working on this too!) and we all need to work on showing Christ's love to the world by listening to others outside of our family more.
Psalm 5: 3 it says, "In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice (God is listening); in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."
Every morning my children come to me in my office and they give me a morning stale kiss and messy haired hug. I love my morning kiss and hugs and can't imagine what it would be like if they woke and didn't care to come see me. If they just carried on with the day as if I didn't exist. I'm afraid that all to often we do this to God. We wake and carry on with our day before we sit down and listen to God in his word. And talk with him in prayer. God is there, ready to listen to us and we must strive to emulate our Savior who is always listening to us. Take time today to listen - first to God, then your family and then to others outside of your family.
Walk with the King!
I usually feel like I am talking to the wall in my house...our son isn't big enough to really 'understand' a lot since he's only 1, and my husband tends to get distracted by everything else. I end up feeling like I am standing there talking to myself. But I'm pretty sure that God feels the same way about me. Great Post! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post, Courtney!
ReplyDeleteJust the other night - I felt this. "Is ANYONE listening to me?!"
In my Home
In my family (hubs side)
In my workplace
Through it all God was...and let me know it!
My husband and I are communicating wonderfully.
My family and I are dealing with a very difficult decision with a family member - and my "experience" in a similar situation was heard - and utilized.
...my work place just dramatically improved as I received a promotion and a transfer to another department with a WONDERFUL boss!
God listens - but we all need to remember to take time FOR Him - both in talking to and listening to.
This was a big topic in my family meeting last night. Every one of us, from adults to kids felt no one was listening at times. God must of heard my heart cries! This was so encouraging! Thanks
ReplyDeleteWow, what a great post! I think our family also needs to learn to listen more this year. Thanks for sharing.
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