Heard

As a mother whose children often do this to her, it seems to me that the Infinite Patience of God is a wonder that would take an eternity to contemplate.

Christ the Servant (Laura Bates)

I am the sort of person who likes to talk.  I guess that is pretty obvious.  After all, I write a lot and generally people who write a lot also like to talk a lot because it is a way that they can communicate verbally.

Because I like to talk a lot and write a lot it means that I like to be listened to, and I like to be heard.  In other words, it is very important to me to feel like the people around me have heard what I am trying to communicate with them.  When they do not hear me then I feel unloved by them and also very very frustrated by the situation and circumstances.

Recently, I have experienced this frustration at not being heard in my dealings with my children.  After all, I make suggestions and recommendations many many times and they tend to – for the most part – ignore my very valuable advice.

Now, this would not be such a problem if it did not result in sometimes disastrous consequences that caused my children to experience additional discomfort that could have been avoided in the first place if they had only listened to me.  But sometimes, no matter how often I remind them to prepare their homework for the next day, it remains a mad rush to get it done on the morning it is due and then everything gets delayed.

These delays become quite stressful for the whole family and often I end up trying to mitigate the problem and ensure that we are able to try to alleviate the stress for the particular child.  Now, this might be because I help them to finish things off, or it might be because I talk to them to calm them down in their panic or it might just be by driving them to school instead of asking them to catch the bus on a particular day.  In any case – rightly or wrongly – I try to help my children out of the mess their own choices have led them into.

And I have been thinking about how frustrating this is as I have been thinking about my God.  You see, God Himself speaks to us – to all of us – and we all sit around, just like my children do to me, ignoring Him.  And then the consequences of sin become evident.  My life is a little less wholesome.  I am a little less disciplined.  My peace of mind is diminished because I refuse to trust in God.  A whole series of problems and grow and grow and grow as I refuse to hear my God.

And then – when everything comes crashing down and I am sad at all the places my life has gone – then I turn to my God crying out to Him.  And I blame Him for the problems that I have made.  And as a mother whose children often do this to her, it seems to me that the Infinite Patience of God is a wonder that would take an eternity to contemplate.

And today I contemplate that – that infinite patience – even when God is not heard…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.