I Can't Hear You

Do you remember disagreements when you were a small child that would escalate to the point where you would plug your ears and say, "I can't hear you!  I can't hear you!"?  Now we have grown up and don't use the same tactics, but do we really listen any better?  I don't think so.  All that you have to do is look at the political landscape and see how people on every side of an issue drown out dissenting viewpoints with name calling and loud rantings.  It isn't just Republicans who do it, and it isn't just Democrats--it is all of us.

The natural inclination of all humans is to believe that our opinion is the one that is based in truth.  When other people have different ideas, we take it personally, and see it as an attack. So, if we don't punch the "idiot" that disagrees with us, we do at least block out the "noise" with unintelligible sounds of our own. 

I would like to say that it is just "all of you" that do this, and that I am innocent, but I am one of the worst perpetrators of the crime of "always having to be right."  It is a horrible crime because it demeans the integrity of the individual against whom it is committed, but it is also dangerous.  And the reason that it is dangerous is because it puts an immediate end to any future dialogue.

Shutting down dialogue is harmful for many reasons.  One is that the input of a second party might keep us from doing something that will ultimate cause problems.  Another is that the insight of that party might also help us to see an answer that is beneficial.  Those are two really good reasons to take the time to listen to what someone else has to say.  You might not always experience wisdom from a second viewpoint, but sometimes you will.  Closing your ears means that that will never happen.

Jesus frequently said, "He that has ears to hear, let him hear."  Allow me to give my loose paraphrase of that statement:  If you have ears, then you should be listening with them.  Their purpose is not to provide a hole in which to put your fingers.

When Jesus used this phrase, he was suggesting that people were plugging their ears when God was trying to speak to them.  That pretty much defeats the real purpose of ears: hearing.  Sure, they are for hearing people, but more importantly, they are given to hear God.  Maybe we should use them more often.

If anyone is going to give me advice on how to stay out of trouble and then on how to experience good things, it is probably God. 

I spend a great deal of my life making my own noise and drowning out God.  And I put my fingers in my ears alot when God disagrees with me.  That means I am shutting down a dialogue with God.  Maybe that isn't a good idea.

I do, after all, "have ears to hear."  Maybe I should "let them hear."

Complicated Things For Simpletons (Like Me)

In a few minutes I will be clicking on a small icon on this page that says "Publish."  When I do that, all of the words that I have written will be discharged from my computer, and they will fly into space; and then they will fall down on your computers to be read. 

I hope I have not gone over your head with my technical jargon.

Obviously, I jest.  Processes that I cannot even imagine will take place, but I don't care.  If I were to say that I have kept up with modern technology, what I would really be saying is that I have learned which buttons to push and which icons to click.

I like many of the things that smarter minds than I have figured out how to do.  I like pushing a button that lets me watch a football game taking place two-thousand miles away.  I like seeing my daughters on my monitor while we talk, even though they are in other parts of the country.  I like the button on my microwave that will transform hard kernels into popcorn in three minutes.  I like driving a car that takes me places just because I turned a key.

What I am saying is that I am grateful to all of those smart people who understand how things work, and who have taken the time to develop a simple method of operation for those of us who don't.  I am a simpleton in most things electrical, mechanical, and technological; but thankfully, I am still able to enjoy the fruits of other people's labor, skill, and knowledge.

The creators of phones and cameras and computers and cars and lights all want me to experience their discoveries.  They want to let me in on their work, and they hope I will delight in it.  So, they have designed simple processes that I can understand, which allow me access to their products, even though I have not an inkling of what makes them work.

I think God is this way.  Humans operate on a very limited understanding of how God works.  Like in the workings of a computer, we have no idea of the complexities in which He operates.  Nevertheless, God wants us to enjoy Him.  And He makes it simple.  Push the button "Love" or the one next to it that says "Pray."  There is another that says "Be Kind" and one that says "Help Others" and one that says "Forgive and Show Mercy."

While God expects us to learn and grow in relationship to Him, I am firmly convinced that all of the right buttons and icons are within easy reach in the place where we are.

I think that we often make knowing God hard, but we don't have to.  He has made it simple.