Are you listening?

It is another superb spring morning here, so as I walked Dusty I enjoyed the mild temperatures and still air. I walked along, listening for God’s voice. 

I’m not mad and I don’t hear voices, but I try to expand my expectations so that in whatever way God chooses to speak, I hear him. In my experience, he often speaks through nature, through people, through any of my senses. And of course through the Bible. I would love to get an email from him, where he could set out exactly what he’s thinking and I could understand. But maybe that would be too easy and I would begin to take the whole thing for granted.

I really have to work hard to hear him and to understand and apply what I think he is saying. That keeps me close to him, chasing after him, whereas if he sent me a quick text I might begin to value his words less and less and even resent the interruption of a text beeping its way into my consciousness.

So I was walking along, listening to the birds – so many species all chattering away, singing and whistling. Each noise means something to another of its species I imagine, but for an outsider like me, it is just pleasant noise. If I wanted to know what it meant, I would need to study ornithology and habits and so on. I’m content to enjoy the birdsong, though. Life is too short.

We had a French guest last week and two Italians, which always leads to language experimentation and often reveals that some words are nuanced and understood differently than we imagine. 

Even within English-speakers, hearing and understanding don’t always go together. When Don and I were first married, there were certain words which carried different meanings depending on which side of the Atlantic you came from. We had a few altercations just because we didn’t quite get what the other was saying, or we took umbrage at something which wasn’t meant to cause offence.

So what did I hear from God this morning? I think he led me on this train of thought, that actually it takes some effort to hear and understand what he is saying, but it is worth it because he, after all, is Almighty God and what he has to say is worth listening to! 

Beyond that, humans need to invest time and energy, patience and understanding, in really listening to what others are saying, with a view to understanding their viewpoint. It may take some careful defining of nuances so that we don’t take umbrage, especially when we are dealing with matters of conscience and faith. But the effort is definitely worth it if the result is peace and harmony.

So I’m off to meet a friend and I plan to really listen to what she is saying, both her words and what lies beneath them. And maybe that was what God was really saying to me this morning. Go meet your friend, and hear what she has to say.