MartiW
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Registered: 03-2006
Location: I
Posts: 208
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 Swimming Lessons . . .
Our 4 year old, after watching her big brother, decided she needed to take swimming lessons. Now, this was a gigantic step. The youngest in a large family, she has always had parents or sibs around. She doesn't even look at strangers and even family friends are suspect if they attempt to interact with her without going through a parent or sib. So, to say she was going to get in the water with a perfect stranger???? Yet, it was something she decided she needed to do and so would do.
The first day of lessons arrived and she was a bit nervous and did not know if she could do it. Yet, when it was class time, she got in line, walked to the pool and found joy. She smiles and laughs and plays. She is the kid waving her hand and saying, "Me first!" to every new thing. She looks forward to swimming lessons and is disappointed on the off days. She has a new found freedom.
Yesterday, as I sat in the bleachers watching, I saw my little one swim solo wothout a floatation device. It was marvelous but something was a bit off for the rest of the class. I was not close enough to hear what was being said, however the teacher spoke to me afterwards. Seems my little one was not listening. She was too busy playing and splashing to pay attention. The teacher was trying to show her a new stroke, but she was not paying attention.
In the car she wept because she did it wrong. When she spoke to her big sister, there was no bragging about swimming solo, only this great grief that she did not listen. Her daddy asked her how lessons were, and she sighed the saddest sound. "I was not a good listener and so I was not a good learner."
During the wee hours of the morning, I woke up and was staring out the window from my bed. All was quiet in my world and inside my head, habitually my prayers began. I stopped and tried to focus. I know that I believe and trust in the Lord. I go to Mass. I read my Bible and Catechism. I pray often. I discuss apologetics online and in person. In this techno age I can bombard myself with the knowledge of God through the internet and TV. There in the quiet darkness, I wondered, "Am I a good listener?" What was it that woke me up in the early hours? Had the Lord called my name as He did Samuel? I didn't know. I am so busy waving my hand and hollering, "Here I am, Lord!" that I don't listen first to hear Him call me. I am not a good listener and therefore not a good learner.
We all know what we are supposed to do to live a Christian life, but are we so full of the knowing that we are beyond learning? Are we so full of the doing, that we are beyond listening to the instructions? Are we so full of the talking to God, that we forget to listen to what He is saying to our heart?
I often wonder in the story of the good Samaritan about the priest who passed by. Jesus did not say he was a bad priest -- only that he saw the man and passed by. This morning I am wondering if perhaps it was not indifference or lack of love or not wanting to get involved that caused that priest to walk by. Could it be that he was so busy doing God's daily work that he missed hearing when and where he was needed most? Could it be that he was so busy praying and talking to God, that he was not listening when God called Him through the beaten man? So, a Samaritan, a man outside the faith, heard and did God's bidding.
I am not going to stop praying. I am not going to stop reading. I am not going to stop discussing. However, I think I am going to make sure that every day I take some time to sit quietly and listen, like I did this morning in the dark. I am going to make myself sit still and listen until I become a good listener. I don't want to be so busy doing God's work tha when he calls I walk on by. How about you?
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DEUS meus, ex toto corde amo Te super omnia, quia es infinite bonus et infinite amabilis; et ob amorem Tui proximum meum diligo sicut meipsum, eique, si quid in me offendit, ignosco.
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3/29/2006, 5:39 pm
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