Our Duty is to Listen

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him. I will protect him because he acknowledges My name. He will call upon Me and I will answer him;” (Psalms 91:14-15 NIV)

As a mother of what I lovingly call a chatterbox, I often found myself drifting off when she was talking. When she was little, the car ride could feel endless. It seemed like her little mouth would go into overdrive while my ears stayed in neutral. Often I was jostled out of my reverie by a voice calling,”Mom did you hear me?”

Usually I followed the conversation enough where I could repeat the words she had just said back to her. But even during those times, I’m ashamed to say I wasn’t really listening. Sure I heard the words she said, but I didn’t listen to the tone of her voice, catch an occasional glimpse of her face, or empathize with the story she was telling me.

Now she’s a teenager and I long for a car ride with my little chatterbox. It appears while I was off daydreaming about what to cook for dinner, or how to arrange it so all the kids made it to their after-school activities, and of course home again, my baby grew up on me and turned into a moody teenager.

Now, the words “Do you hear me?” are coming from my mouth and my daughter is the one nodding her head and repeating my words back to me. I know she’s not actually listening to me because hours later when I check to see if she did the chores that I had asked her to do, I find the litter box hasn’t been touched by human hands, the dishes never made their way to the dishwasher, and her backpack is still in the middle of the kitchen floor.

I feel sad that time has changed my daughter so much. I long for a bedtime chat where she is still talking incessantly. But she doesn’t have the time now. She’s too busy with her friends, sporting events, and even studying.

However, I am blessed to have a Heavenly Father who is more than willing to listen to my every word. If it’s important to me then it’s important to Jesus. How refreshing it is to know Jesus is up in heaven hearing my every word. Not once does His mind drift off to other more important matters.

He loves me so much; He even came to earth to die for my sins, enabling me the chance to spend eternity with Him. All He asks is that I believe in Him and follow His word; in exchange He gives me everlasting love. —Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom

Dear Jesus, Thank you for loving us enough to truly listen to us. Remind us to listen to the people we encounter today. In Your name we pray. Amen.