My friend is crunching right next to me. An entire kohlrabi of crunching. I hear ‘skwumcschk, skwumcschk, skwumcschk’ although a new SVU is blaring in front of me.
I spend my day communicating in one way or another. I get to talk about all kinds of things. I get to hear about a lot of things too. I am a repository for an assortment of goodies – details of which aren’t important – but liken it to heading up the complaint department while baking cakes and cookies.
I hear the radio on my drive in. I’m a station flipper, seeking music, the kind that brings back memories, smells, sensations, feelings and emotions from years gone by. When I get to work, I am surrounded by conversations – my bosses handle 98% of their business on speakerphone. I can hear my other two officemates, although the giggling and whispering is only one-sided. I hear people talking from across the office suite. In the main office, depending on the section I’m in, I hear WDRV – The Drive or Bob and Brian. I hear talk about Harleys, fixing cars, a show at Mad Planet, the weather … Nothing out of the ordinary from many other water cooler conversations, I’m guessing.
I hear all day long. But truthfully, I do not listen. How do I turn off ‘life’ to listen to what God has to say? Is He speaking to me through the din of my daily existence?
I’ve been struggling with what to write about this week. This past Monday and Tuesday, I did the Food Stamp Challenge, hoping for some kind of revelation. Nothing life changing, but something worth 2 cents. No luck.
But as I write, I came up with this hearing/listening thing.
I am hearing all day long but am I really listening? Is there a message somewhere for me?
In the unending hours I spend in my office, my focus is very task related – my calendar reminds me 15 or 30 minutes in advance of any meeting I have. An 8.5 x 11 piece of paper reminds me of the things I deem critically important that I complete TODAY. My whiteboard reminds me of the projects in progress and things I need to do to get to the next step. Post-it notes remind me of quasi-critical tasks that need to be completed, hmmm, in a couple days or a week. As you can tell, I have countless reminders of the ‘whats’, reward for completion being job retention and 5 more tasks!
Who has time to listen?
I need to find time because I know that God has something he needs to tell me. I need to learn how to listen – really listen – far beyond the speakerphones and whispering.
How do you do it? How do I reach that meditative point during a day of a million pokes?
God has so much to offer – even in a daily existence of chore-like due-lists. That is where He exists, in the every day, in our lives as we know them. We don’t have to change WHAT we do, we just need to listen a little more intently as we live our lives. I invite you to listen; listen every day and realize God’s grace and gift of the everyday lives we have.
listening Wednesday, September 21, 2011
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