Listening

 Have you ever been in a classroom full of energetic, early elementary school age children?  Mercy...I have...not often, but enough times to know that it is hard to get them to listen, to pay attention, to be still enough so they can hear what I have to say.  It is hard for them to be quiet, and because of that, they sometimes miss the fun, the real fun.  They miss the treats that come from managing their...laboriousness.  Well, they're kids, right?  Kids are supposed to be hectic and restless.  They haven't learned how to quiet themselves yet...and now that I think about it...neither have I.

Continuing with my brief meditations on the things we could do while waiting, I said we were going to look at "seeing" as the next one, but actually, the next thing we should do while we wait is to listen.  We seek, and we pray, and we pray and we seek in our attempt at figuring things out, and at getting closer to the One we are looking for.  We are restless and panicky in our efforts to seek and trying to find.  But then, it comes a time when we just have to be quiet...we just have to be still...and let Him do the doing...let Him do the talking.  It comes a time while we are in our periods of intense waiting when we just have to listen.

O, but it is so hard, isn't it?  Especially when the listening not necessarily happens with the ears alone. Listening to the whisperings of the Holy One involves our full self.  It involves a state of stillness of the mind, of the body, of the spirit, that is very difficult to achieve.  

The Lord Himself says to us in Psalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God.

Jesus tells us, in John 10: 27-28

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

And in Revelations 3: 20, He proclaims:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Great things come from listening: knowledge, eternal life, fellowship with Christ.  But the act of listening, while an action, requires stillness.  And maybe it is just me, I don't know, but I find it so very difficult to be still. That's where my impatience robs me of the great rewards that come from listening.  I don't want to miss the treats that come from managing my laboriousness and turning it down enough to be quiet, to be still.  Perhaps, as I am in the stage of seeking, my prayer should be that I can be still enough to hear His voice, so I can open the door, follow Him and allow Him to be God in my life and in my circumstances.

When the teacher manages the classroom full of elementary school age children in a way that they are able to listen, there is immense joy in the heart and soul of that teacher, because they get to see the miracle of learning happening right in front of their eyes. After all, as teachers, that is what we live for, isn't it? I wonder if that is a semblance of the joy of the Lord when we finally are still and know...

May we seek the joy of the Lord, for it is our strength...may we seek to be quiet and listen to His voice while we wait.  Amen.