Lessons in Listening From My 9 Year Old

I have often said that I believe God uses the example of our children to teach us about our relationship with him.

Here is my latest lesson:

When we were camping this last weekend, my kids were riding their bikes with the other kids. The "moms" were walking behind and a bit of distance got between us. When we rounded the loop we suddenly saw that the kids had abandoned their bikes in the middle of the road and took off through the trees to the lake... 

Let me just say this was NOT COOL with me. 

When I had found my kids (and scolded them a bit) I sent them back up the loop to retrieve their bikes. This was not a very far distance and there were very few people.  I watched my 9 year old and my 6 year old walk back up toward the loop and completely miss the turn they needed to take. I began calling to them to stop, but the louder I called the faster they ran the other direction.  I couldn't reach them quickly enough before they disappeared down the loop going the very LONG way around. 

When I found them again I  asked my oldest, "Didn't you hear me calling to you?" 

he answered "Yes, I heard you." 

I said "Well, why didn't you stop then?" 

9 year old says "Because I knew what you were going to say." 

(stop for dramatic pause while mom internally blows up)

Believe me, the words that came out of my mouth next began something like "Well, do you know what I'm going to say now???" and he got the lecture you can probably imagine. To think that he clearly heard me, but chose to ignore my calling to him to stop.  How could he do that to me? Why didn't he listen to me? His mother and clear authority?

Then the Holy Spirit started talking to me. 

He said, "How many times Kari, Have I been calling to you to stop and you just kept right on running away because you thought you knew what I was going to say?" 

....."Many times Lord"

.... "And how many times have I asked you to do something for me, but you took off in your own direction instead?"

.... "Too many times Lord"

.... "And how many times have I forgiven you, restored you, and brought you back to wholeness?"

... "More times than I can count Lord."

When was the last time you felt the Lord tell you to talk to someone about Jesus, but you hesitated out of fear, and then ran away? When was the last time you knew what the Holy Spirit was convicting you of something, but you chose to ignore it? 

This is a hard lesson for me, but just like my boys, when we don't listen to the calling of God we just are running the long way around the loop. Eventually he will bring us back to face what we are running from. Let's stop running, and start listening and obeying what God is clearly showing us to do.

Stop the Noise and Just Listen

My family went camping again over the fathers day weekend with 3 other families. That means there were 11 kids all under 10 years old. It was an amazingly fun time! And a miracle that all the kids got along! LOL!

There are so many wonderful things about camping, but what I really love is getting away and into God's creation. There is somthing about sitting in the midle of a quiet lake in a canoe and just listening to the sounds of nature... the wind in the trees, the water, the birds... that brings out the calm in me.

We  are so connected to our things. Our phones, our laptops, our cars and hair dryers that it can be difficult to just be quiet. It takes a real effort to find that quiet these days away from everything we come to depend on. 

But that's just it isn't it. We depend on them. What would we do if all electronics stopped. If cars no longer ran. What would we do with ourselves? Those things are great tools, but I fear that we as a society become so attached to them that we are easily distracted by their instant entertainment gratification and we forget to stop and just listen.

...Listen to the words Jesus spoke... listen to the sounds HE created on this earth... listen to the whisper of the Holy Spirit in our hearts telling us what is right, giving us courage to move forward in our purpose. Do we really listen ever?

The bible talks about Jesus often going off to lonely places to pray. He modeled what we should be doing. I want to encourage you today to actively seek to be alone and quiet with your savior and then really listen to him. What he has to say to each of us is so beautiful, it renews us, and sets us in line to fulfill that purpose he has for us today.