Listening to God (3)

When my son, Rob, was about 4 years old, I found him lying on the floor between our bed and the wall with a very pensive look on his face. I asked him what was the matter and he said, "I have a problem." Now what possible problem could a 4-year-old have? So I asked. He said, "When I talk to God, He doesn't answer me."

"Oh, that's because you listen to Him with your ears. If you want to hear Him, you have to listen with your heart," fully expecting him to retort, "How do you listen with your heart?"

But what he said was, "I see."

Hearing God is not like hearing people. His words form in your thoughts and feelings. And as I said in the earlier entries, the words are His, not ours.

If you really want to hear Him, I assure you it won't be while you're watching TV or istening to your i-pod. Because you wouldn't be listening or paying attention to Him then. You wouldn't even hear what humans would be saying to you if you were that occupied and preoccupied. You will hear Him if you have your heart cocked in the silence and the quiet. You will hear Him if you habitually listen for the sound of His voice.

Where would you hear Him? Somewhere I read, "Everything is ablaze with God." When you are looking for Him, you find Him everywhere, in anything and everything. As St. Paul said, "In Him we live and move and have our being." Your heart will hear Him the same way a mother hears her child's voice, however faint it may be. He will speak in beauty. He will speak through others. You will hear Him in music and the laughter of children. You will find Him even in grief as you would in joy. I often say that God's theme song is, "You'll never get away from me/though you climb the highest tree/I'll be there somehow."

Why listen? Because we want to hear. When we don't want to hear, we don't listen. When my daughter, Bim, would remonstrate with her daughter, Casey, the five-year-old would say, "I'm not listening!" It is the same with us.

God speaks and when we listen, we will hear. We speak and He listens. He always does. The prayer goes, "Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening." Often our prayer is, "Listen, Lord. I am speaking."

When we find ourselves in a bind or when we are confused, that's a good time to ask God what He would want us to do. What He wants is what is best for us and while we don't know what that might be, He does. Businesses hire consultants and experts to help them make the best decisions. God will do it for us for free and from a position of pure and simple love.