There it sat perched on a small coffee table next to Dad's favorite chair. It was a mug we kids gave him at his 80th birthday party. Inscribed on one side was the caption, “Dad...thanks to your lectures, I never change horses in the middle of a job worth doing, I know the squeaky wheel gets the worm, and I never count my chickens until I’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” and on the other side, it read,”And you thought I wasn’t listening!”
“How true!” we chuckle. But what, exactly, is the truth of it? Sadly, it seems to be this: we listen in half. Oh, we may hear the whole but only half (on a good day!) is heavy enough to sink into our consciousness to be applied at the moment or stored for future retrieval. Then, having listened in half, we attempt to put the whole back together. It doesn’t work and we chide ourselves, “Why didn’t I listen more carefully?!”
And it gets worse. We may think we really were listening! We may think we heard our parents’ words correctly so we proceed—but on an erroneous basis. No wonder we get confused. No wonder things go awry in our lives. It’s like trying to navigate New York City while reading a map of Minneapolis. We wander. And we wonder.
Today, having entered into what the church calls "Holy Week," let's listen whole-ly...wholly...for the holy in each day. Faith says it's here. Hope says if we give ourselves to such listening, we'll hear it. Love says it will be holy for us...that is, it will be what we truly need to hear.
“If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32)
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