Listen...Just Listen

You know what I have realized more and more over the past several months? How often we do not take time to listen. To listen to God, the people (many hurting) around us, the world around us, a song...

Listening can have a very large impact on our lives. I will caution you now that listening to too much of something besides God can have a very negative impact on your life. But I also believe that God gave us things in this world to enjoy and to do while we live here. This blog post in many ways may seem very random to you, my reader. But I've been doing a lot of thinking about this.

Around here, it's been very cold lately. But in the midst of the cold, I heard a bird. Just a single one. It flew with its flock, but it was the only to make a sound. In the middle of winter, hearing a bird is incredibly rare here. And that single sound, not heard by most around me, made me smile.

A single song that I heard in a completely random place has been resonating since I heard it...okay I heard it five minutes ago, so it doesn't really count. But there are songs (be they sacred or secular) that occasionally just resonate with something inside of me. It's not just a spark of emotion, its typically a spark of creativity, thought, journaling, prayer, etc. I wish I knew how to describe to you what I want to say right now.

I guess what I mean when I say listen is to simply take the time to be still. I know I'm not good at it. I'm learning how to be still and listen. I look and I see Jesus (though being very active in ministry) still took time to be alone, to pray, to seek God. I think why things like a bird singing or the right song make me stop is because they remind me to be quiet. To listen. To be still.

"Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" -Psalm 46:10

So whether you get reminded by a flower blossoming, a song, a verse...I encourage you as I have been encouraged. Take the time to be still. Listen.