Do I listen…really listen?

Do we listen…really listen?

Listen to God…hear His voice above all?

Listen to others…to really know them…to know their stories…their essence?

Listen to my own heart…to the longings and desires…to the joys, and even the fears…to the hunger for more of God?
Lord, I want to listen to You…to deeply feel Your voice resonate in the very center of my soul.

Lord, I want to listen to Your calling…the one You have placed in me, just for me.

Lord, I want to listen to those You have placed in my path, the ones You value greatly. I want to listen to their stories and know them, deeply know them.
Lord, help me to listen…really listen.

it’s 4am…and I’m awake. Not sure why, but after an hour of tossing and turning, I find I just can’t lay anymore. My mind is a constant flutter of activity, worrying about this retreat, that deadline, the myriad other concerns in my world. I know I have a long day ahead at work, 14 hours to be exact. And I need rest…desperately. But here I am, wide awake, thoughts barreling down the highways of my mind like a race car on an open road with no speed limit.

So I get up. Reluctantly, I might add. I have prayed off and on for the last hour, hoping I would once again drift off to sleep. But sleep eludes, so I pick up a magazine to clear my mind. Magazines don’t take as much concentration as books. I pick up where I left off a couple of days ago. I begin an article by John Ortberg about, of all things, soul-rest. My first response is, ” Really, God? I can’t sleep and You plop me in an article about rest?” Is that a chuckle I hear?

And then I read the words, “…he (Jesus) promised that in Him they would find an easy yoke and ‘rest for your souls’.” 

I read on, convicted by the fact that I am, once again, worrying about the cares of this life. Cares, by the way, I really can’t control anyway. Hmmm. That worry thing falls in the category of sin, doesn’t it? I am, once again, trying to handle my life under my own power, rather than casting my cares upon Him. Is God not trustworthy? Forgetting, again, that God loves me more than life.

Will I ever really learn? Praise God that He is merciful.

In the same article, Ortberg shares how Dallas Willard, great man of faith, uses the Lord’s Prayer as a guideline for living. Perhaps I should start there. Our Father…

*The Barnacles of Life, by John Ortberg, Leadership Journal, Winter 2015

We are all on a journey, some heading in the direction God is leading, others, not so much. As we journey together, I pray that we will all be drawn to be more like Christ in all we do. Mostly, my journey goes along a meandering path, stopping along the way to find joy in the wonders of people and experiences unique to my path. I am always thrilled when my path crosses with others God has touched, and with those God is waiting to touch. Come along on this journey with me as we seek to find God’s best for our lives.