I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
I know that I talk too much, not to strangers, but to friends. I get on the phone with one particular friend and we can talk for an hour or more. The same is true of my chats with our daughter. Recently, the Lord has been telling me to be quiet more and to just listen. I’m not the only one bursting with things I want to share, but I am aware that at times, I ramble and the other person doesn’t get a chance to share what is on their hearts. Imagine if God never listened to us how frustrating that would be!
People do not ask for or desire that I tell them all that I am thinking or my opinion about everything. Mostly, they just want a listening ear. Of course, if they are sharing something that is against my moral code, I will speak up, but my new thing to do is just to listen. Did you know that there are studies about being quiet and letting the other person fill the silence? How much we can learn about what is going on in another person’s life is dependent on our truly listening.
We are repeatedly admonished in the Scripture to listen and to think before we speak. I think it would solve a lot of relationship problems if we would make following this verse a habit. It’s hard to argue with someone who isn’t arguing back but is remaining silent, isn’t it?
May we all be blessed today with the reminder to listen carefully and to just be quiet.
Less than a decade ago, I shared my thoughts about everything that matters to me: life, death, politics, abortion, etc. I spread my thoughts everywhere, thinking perhaps that I was giving others the benefits of my vast knowledge and experience. No, what I was actually doing was being shortsighted and setting myself up for failure when I tried to share the Gospel with others.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I was not trying to start a quarrel, but that is usually how things went. My liberal family members had met their match in having the last word with me since I was determined to have it. Fast forward a decade or so and I have learned the hard lesson to just be quiet. Yes, the other person may think that I know that my point of view is wrong so I’m not defending it. Or, they may be thinking that they have won an argument that never got started because I refused to participate. What really happened is I got wiser with age and just don’t want the drama of arguing just to win a point. In gaining that point, I may be destroying my witness to that person, and it’s not really wroth it. Thus when friends or family pontificate about how wrong I am about current issues, I just listen. I don’t nod in agreement or smile or anything. I just listen. Did you know that after only a few minutes, they cease to lecture me on their worldview, seeing as I am not being at all argumentative and thus cutting off the water supply to the dam of their outrage that is about to break?
We would all do well to remember this adage from Abraham Lincoln. I have sat in the company of what I would call many foolish people determined to prove that their point of view is the right one, in fact, the only one. I figure that eventually, either on this side of Heaven or the other one, they will be proven wrong by the One who is greater than they. Jesus never argued His points; He should stated them and people could accept them or not. Then He moved on. That’s a good example to follow, don’t you think?
From my devotional this morning, I got this promise. Isn’t it wonderful to know that no matter where you are or what is happening in your life, the Lord God is with you? He is the same Lord who died for you on the cross, the same Lord who loves you with an eternal love, a love that no one can change or take away. He saves! Hallelujah!
As I read, I related to being a small child and waiting anxiously for my father to come home from work. No matter what had happened that day, daddy always knew what to say and how to calm my fears. Now, broaden the scope and imagine that our Heavenly Father is waiting for us to call on Him. We don’t have to anxiously sit and wait for His arrival; He is always right there beside us. In my mind, I recall my daddy picking me up and holding me and telling me that he loved me. Those moments with my father were worth all that had happened that day: the hurt of being different from the other children because I couldn’t run and play due to my health conditions, the anguish of being rejected by my mother, and the multitudes of other pains that small children go through and think we just can’t live through them. I survived because I knew my daddy loved me and would be home soon to cuddle me. And when I began to go to church, the comforting arms of my earthly father were replaced by the everlasting comfort of my Heavenly Father. By that time, I was living alone and needed to know His love since my daddy was hours away and I could not share my daily frustrations with him. But God was there! He was there for me all along, just waiting for me to ask Him to come alongside me and be that One that I can always count on.
God quiets us with His love. He loves us totally, completely and unconditionally. I can choose to leave Him, but He will not leave me. He sees me as worthy, as beautiful and as a necessary part of His creation. The God of the Universe looked down on earth and thought it needed one of me. Awesome thought, right? Of course, it is also an awesome responsibility to fulfill His purposes for me during the years He has established for me here. Nevertheless, while I am here, He rejoices over me. Just as my daddy used to sing songs (“The Church in the Wild Wood” was a favorite of his) that showed me his love for me, imagine the Heavenly Father singing songs over you, not just when you need comfort, but just because He loves you. What song is in your heart today? Imagine the Father singing that to you. That thought makes my whole being quiver with anticipation for what the new day will bring and what the Father will do for me and through me in it!
I like the mental images that come to my mind when I meditate on these two verses. I added them to my promise journal so that I can look back and remember. That’s what life is all about sometimes, a series of memories that mean something important to us. When I am remembering the afternoon minutes that I spent with my daddy, I also recall the many times that God has shown me grace and mercy and love…lots of love. Can I do any less for others who are hurting and need a Mighty Warrior to save them and a loving God to calm and rejoice over them with songs? We are sent to tell others because we have a great truth that should never be hidden. The world is hurting, and we have just the right remedy…a relationship with the Lord!
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 