July 23, 2012 Who are you listening to?

Romans 8:15-16 NIV You should not be like cowering fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into His family - calling "Father, dear Father." For his Holy Spirit speaks to us in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how busy we all are, (like I was the week before my first grandchild's wedding) and how very hard it is to be either silent or in silence. Personally, when I am trying to get into that quiet place, the first thing that happens is the list, you know, the list of all the things you have to do - even if you have not made a list. Then, you start hearing things, floors squeaking, birds singing, or people. Even the whir of an air conditioner can be a distraction. Your ears are beleaguered by all manner of odd sounds and what you might have considered quiet becomes a raucous place.

Funny, how it is so much easier to listen to, and hear, anything other than the voice of God...so we end up making all of our decisions based on the counsel of everyone else.

I have long loved the verse 26 in John 14, But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have told you.

The thought just occurred to me that I wonder if we do not treat God the way struggling teenagers might treat their parents, as out-of-touch and with little too offer; in other words, too easy to blow off. At least that is the way I think God must feel sometimes. He wants us to come to Him in delight, secure in His love and wisdom, with a "Daddy, tell me what to do," uttered in a ready-to-listen and pay attention posture.

Instead, we rush into his presence with our demands, our Deareavenlyfather all running together and our inJesusname closure like poisonous words we want to get by fast, so we can get onto more interesting things.

He's a person, one who loves us and who just wants to sit quietly with us, the way lovers do, content just to be in each other's arms. I wonder what we miss in our hurry to chase after all the other distractions.