Maybe you’ve heard one person say to another person, “Just stop and listen! Do you hear what you’re saying?”
I had such a conversation with myself the other day. It was a wake up call when I had an onslaught of negative thoughts pound through my head and I realized it was easier to just give up and listen to the negative thoughts than to actually pay attention to what I was saying to myself… to what I was believing in my heart as a result.
When I really stopped to pay attention, however, I recognized it was a little bit like the warning light that flashes on my dehumidifier when the machine is telling me that the filter needs to be cleaned.
But even though I was starting to pay attention and hear more clearly, I knew I needed help with cleaning the filter. And I knew it couldn’t be a one time deal. Just as the filter on the dehumidifier needs to be cleaned every certain number of working hours, the filter of my mind and heart need to be cleaned on a regular basis too.
It’s vital, if I want to maintain a healthy perspective.
So I wrote this short prayer that I want to start reading every morning, as a way to reset my mind for each day ahead. And I’m praying that the power in God’s response will help me to hear and catch those negative thoughts more quickly in the future, so that they don’t become such a snare for my heart as each day rolls along.
“Lord, thank You for every need You’ll fill today and every good gift waiting for me. Even the ones I can’t see. I receive them in advance with gratitude. Thank You for the protective filter You’ve set over me. If anything hard comes, You’ve approved it for a reason You know. I trust You and Your wisdom. Please clean the filter of my heart and mind so that I can see and choose to respond to those hard things in life-giving ways. Teach me how to see and how to choose. Today is good because You are good. No matter what, You are good.”
Already this month, I have posted about our need to be heard and God’s need to be heard.
But what about Jesus? Does He need to be heard?
Just as much as ever (as in each previous generation and century), His words and teachings need to be heard, understood, and applied. His teachings are true and timeless.
But how He’s heard… Well, that’s another matter.
When we are being heard by another person, I think there are three basic levels on which that can happen.
There is the level at which they are next to us or staring at us but apparently not really focused on anything we are saying.
Then there is the level where they are hearing us out, listening out of polite respect or with cloaked disdain or apathy, or adamantly opposed to our point of view but letting us speak our peace.
And then there is hearing us with their heart. To be heard out is sometimes necessary but if it never moves further, and we are never heard with the heart, something is left wanting in us.
And we must be heard with another’s heart to say that we “have been truly heard.”
Back to Jesus… There are four basic ways in which people generally respond to Him. There are those who never hear about Him, either because they have no chance or they don’t pay attention to religion-related matters.
Then, there are those who are exposed to the thought of Him or a few of His ideas, but those thoughts/ideas go in one ear and out the other.
Then, there are the people who, to some degree, hear Jesus out; He is heard by them but only in so much as they can stand to hear. Or they really like a few things that He has to say, so when He is heard by them, they pick and choose which of His words they want to hold on to.
And then there are people who hear Him with their heart.
But whenever we have our own goals and agendas, I think it is easier to just hear His words outwithouthearing Him with our hearts.
This may mean we’ve only heard part of what He said and tuned out the rest. Or, more commonly, it may mean we’ve heard His words in full but have run them through our interpretive filters to twist the meaning for the sake of protesting against Him or lording it over or otherwise harming our fellow humans.
Take, for example, a famous story from Luke, about two sisters named Martha and Mary. Martha was busy fixing dinner for all the guests, while Mary was sitting with the rest of the guests, listening to Jesus teach and finding great joy in simply being near Him.
I have heard of people use this story to illustrate how doing nothing or just being is more worshipful than working, or how Martha is a symbol of workaholics and people who try to earn their way to heaven. I’ve also heard people use the story to suggest that Jesus didn’t really listen to and value women while he walked the earth, nor did He appreciate all the work they do to help make home and family a meaningful place. Some have said that Mary is the better of the two sisters, period. Others have said that Martha should have been ashamed for speaking so directly to Jesus, and how dare she interrupt to complain to him? Clearly we are all to only be like trusting, restful Mary and completely avoid Martha’s behaviors!
But when I read the story again and invited Jesus to be heard with my heart, this is where I landed. We can imagine and gather that Jesus loved both women equally well and was pleased with both aspects of their faith: the devoted listening and the passionate service. There is a need for the traits of each of these women in all of our lives, spiritually speaking. If we really allow Jesus to be heard, we hear Him saying that it is great at times to be still and to be near Him in quietness, but also to be near Him in all things, no matter what type of service we may be doing for Him.
These thoughts may be simple, but today they are powerful reminders for me. Because I was always under the impression that I had to be one or the other: Martha or Mary. I couldn’t be both. But as I allow Jesus to be heard, I see clearly that I am both. And both aspects of me in my relationship with Him are good. The key just seems to be that I allow Him to be heard in every day and every aspect of my life, no matter what I am doing or ceasing to do, serving as He gives me purpose and embracing stillness when that would be the better choice.
I wonder what the world would be like if those of us who would hear Jesus would not just hear Him out, but if we allowed Him to be heard rightly with our hearts more often?
God speaks, but how often do we allow His voice to be heard? What drowns out His voice in our lives? Is it busyness, or fear, or selective hearing, or disbelief?
A few passages come to mind.
In Exodus 4, God appears to Moses in the form of a burning bush. When Moses hears God’s command, he protests. And God asks him, “Who gave man his mouth? Isn’t it Me? So don’t tell Me you can’t talk because I’m the one who gave you that ability, and I will tell you what to say if you will listen.” Funny, how when God says that, He’s not angry with Moses… He doesn’t get angry with Moses until Moses ignores His words and keeps protesting.
In Job 38, after God has a listened to Job and his friends debating for chapters on end, God decides to speak for Himself, and He says to Job, “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man. I will question you and you shall answer Me.” Then, God goes on for a few chapters, letting them all have it, so to speak. At that point, we can imagine God’s voice crashing like a combination of deep thunder and cymbals and giant ocean waves.
In Colossians 1, Paul says, “For God the Father has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Through this writing, God is clearly speaking. He is not angry or cynical, and He is extending love and mercy, forgiveness and adoption.
So which is it? Does God speak out of anger, or does He speak out of love? He speaks our of both and in the best tone as the situation warrants it. But it seems that what warrants it is both particular circumstances and also the heart of the person or the people who are listening… IF they are listening.
(Back to Job, chapter 33, Job’s young acquaintance says, “Why do you complain to God that He answers none of man’s words? For God does speak: now one way, now another, though man may not perceive it…” And he goes on to give examples of some of those ways that God speaks.)
That’s the thing. We all long to be heard. How much more must God long to be heard? And how much more joy must He receive when we are willing to listen to Him? For God certainly could speak to us in anger, especially if our hearts are proud or stubborn. But far more often, through the beauty of what He creates and the revelation of His word, the things He wants to tell us are good and are softly spoken. They are not always happy, because sometimes His good promises mean our admonishment or correction. But they are always good because His promises are always for our good. And many of them will bring us happiness, if we will allow Him to be heard and we will listen to what He says.
Are we worried? Let us focus on the good promises of God. Are we confused? Let us listen for the wisdom of God. Are we sad? Let us hear the whisper of God. Are we stuck? Let us be prodded by the passion of God.
But, above all, let us have ears, hearts, and souls that invite God to be heard.
In this month’s series on being heard, I would like to draw from my own thoughts and those I have heard other writers share, giving us a chance to be heard by the world. So to all of the readers of every genre out there, and to all of the people who have a writing loved one in their life: an open letter.
Dear Reader,
I am an ever-turning brain that never completely shuts down (unless I can manage a deep, exhausted sleep). This is my amazing place of procreation. And it is my torture chamber. I wish I could turn it off at will. And I wish I could make it produce at other speeds sometimes. This brain does what it will irrespective of life circumstances–and sometimes in response to them. If I need to reschedule an appointment with you or I don’t respond to you, or I dash madly from the room while scribbling on a notepad or speaking nonsensical statements into a voice recorder, I have not lost my mind. I have simply had an idea I can’t let my mind lose.
I am an introvert. Even though I have learned to set aside my shyness for the sake of society’s expectations, I would really rather be by myself at least 89.4% of the time. (And if I have to communicate with someone, I would much rather write out my message.) This is in part due to the aforementioned brain. A chunk of my energy must be reserved for keeping up with it and all of its ideas as I absorb the details flying at me from a dozen directions, almost constantly thinking of how I can capture those details in accurate and beautiful words. And when I do dare to share any of my ideas, whether or not related to my writing, I am terribly afraid they will be rejected or mocked because…
I am an extremely sensitive soul. A creative person cannot create without feeling, experiencing, dreaming, absorbing, noticing, sensing, and embracing. This is how writers, artists, musicians, and other such types create works that captivate, move, transport, and inspire: we open our souls to see, hear, and feel all we possibly can, and then we translate what we sense into words, angles, colors, and notes. But no matter how much the world may force us to thicken our skin, we can never truly deaden this sensitivity…not if we want to be real and keep doing what we were born to do in the world.
I am a word-womb for children yet unborn, children I am protective of because, just like human children, they are an extension of myself, and they are at once imperfect, wonderful, fragile, and heavenly. And when I reveal them to the world, the results can be encouraging, affirming, non-acknowledging, constructively critical…or brutal. That’s the hardest part–holding my breath as the blanket is pulled back and the moments tick by. Will my created child be kissed, ignored, photoshopped, or bashed on the head? It shouldn’t matter. Because I live and breathe to create, no matter what. But it does matter. Because I share my creations to share my joy, to entertain and uplift and teach and change. And because the created work is so often somehow incomplete without another soul to receive the gift in it. The gift I was destined to share. The gift someone in the world needs today or tomorrow or a year from now, at just the right moment in their life.
I am a gratitude storehouse. Each time another person gives me a kind or edifying word, it helps me keep creating what’s good. Each time a venue gives me a chance to extend my introverted self and share about my creations, it boosts my confidence that what I have to offer the world is indeed worthwhile. Each time a friend offers me space to feel safe and speak from my deepest heart, it keeps me open to expressing the goodness God puts there. And each time you give me a chance, dear reader, by actually reading what I have written–and even recommending it to others–that is an echoing gift that means more than this wordsmith can say.
Thank you, now, for reading this, for understanding me a little more deeply. And thank you for seeing past the above quirks, even embracing them as you embrace me through my writing, whether or not we have ever met.
