Are You Listening?

Imagine a world without headphones. Everyone's vast variety of music colliding into chaos. In some places, music would be banned. After all, we can't have everyone blaring music in libraries, coffee shops, bookstores. Headphones allow us to listen to our favorite speakers, musicians, and movies. We enjoy our favorites without imposing on other people. We shield ourselves from being invaded by other people.

What do we miss in the process?

I was recently talking to a friend without realizing she was wearing headphones. She heard nothing that I said. I wondered...how often is God talking to me when I'm wearing headphones? What am I missing? It's not that he's not talking. I'm not listening. I'm clueless he's talking, because I'm absorbed by something else.

I'm consumed with my to-do list. My problems. My needs. My wants.

What are you absorbed by today?

Is there an area of your life God seems to be silent? How do you know when God, in his silence, is urging you to wait and trust...and when he seems silent but is actually speaking?

Ask yourself: Am I wearing headphones? Am I consumed with my own wants, needs, problems, to-do list that I can't hear God speaking to me?

God is only silent in purpose. And his silence is limited. God speaks to us in a myriad of ways, but we have to be listening. We must hone a keen awareness. Watch. Search. Listen. Study. Speak.

Unplug. Take away the distractions. Headphones may help us be sensitive to those around us, but they hinder our relationship with God. You'll have to choose. Your preferences and your world or God's. Which will you choose today?

To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. - Matthew 13:12 (NLT)