I can hear you, but I ain’t listening

I can hear you, but I ain’t listening… We all have done that, we hear what the other person is saying, but we are not listening to them. I always think of Charlie Brown, you know how the adults talk in that show, wwawwawa waa wwaaa, that’s how it is sometimes for me, all I hear is nothing.

 

We do that with our friends, our family and co-workers. We most likely do it more with some then with others, we be all do it, I am sure of it.

 

And yes we even do that with God, most likely more often then not. God is constantly talking to us, helping us along telling us what he wants for us, but we choose not to listen, we may hear him, but we do not listen.

 

We hear Gods voice in different ways, through the thoughts of a friend, a reading at Mass or even a TV show, God uses what we, as limited humans, have at our disposal.

 

A friend of mine tells people at church, when she is reminding them to turn off their cell phone, that God will not call them during Mass, how true it is!

 

As a child we learn how to tone out our parent’s voice, they say boys are extremely good at this. But both girls and boys do it, the research stated that it was a form of survival, the ability to tune in to only what they need to hear. My guess is that cartoons are not a need to hear, but rather a want to hear. But in either case, it is a know ability. We tune out distractions, voices we no longer want to hear, for what ever reason.

 

Parents do the opposite they learn to tune in to the cry of their child; they have the ability to pick out the cry that only belongs to them. They learn to hear the distinct sounds of a baby sleeping, knowing if all is alright.

 

Yet we all still seem to turn off the voice of whom ever we wish not to hear, be it out of boredom or out of protection.

 

So why would we tune out Gods voice? Why do we choose not to hear him? Research has also shown that a child has an innate knowledge of God, and that we unlearn this as we grow older.

 

It seems to be our nature to remove from us the sounds that bather us the most, shut down when we are called to a higher standard or a difficult task.

 

Those same children who will not hear you say, “Its time to clean your room” will hear you, even if you are at a sub-whisper, “want to go get ice-cream”.

 

We as adults have not lost that ability; it may not be ice-cream we filter in to, but rather, lay-off or budget crunch or other key words that we will pick up from across the room.

 

We do the same with God, we listen for key words, and we want to hear it our way, in our choice of word. And all too often God uses his own words. So we choose to block them, not listen to him.

 

We are the children of God, so I guess it’s only natural that we do learn to block his voice, and hear only key words, of our choosing, me I would love to hear God invite me for ice-cream, but I am sure that is not on his to-do list.

 

But I will try harder to open up my ears, and to not only hear Gods voice, but also to truly listen to it.

 

Paul