Listening.

Praise the Lord I finally have internet! It was hard not being to have access to the internet all week but I made it. My first week of school went well and I'm excited to start working with them on a more individual level. I actually got the opportunity take over the class for the bit and go over their math homework yesterday as the teacher was giving out reading tests. What did I learn from the experience? I need a better idea of what 2nd/3rd graders understand. haha I tried to add a little complexity to some of the problems...different ways to look at it or other ways to solve it...and the teacher had to tell me to move on because it was too hard for them. Oh well, at least I got the experience of being in front of the classroom on my own.

Last night at Bible Study we studied Isaiah 46 and as I was mediating on this chapter I noticed that the Lord says a phrase twice, "Listen to me". This phrase caught my attention because it is something I've noticed while being in the classrooms this week. It doesn't matter how young or old we are, we all have a hard time listening. Since it was the first week the teacher spent a lot of time going over procedures and emphasizing the importance of following directions. It was amazing to see how we could go over each direction step by step, have them repeat it, and still have half the class mess up. The teacher was usually clear about what she expected at each step and yet they had such a hard time following the most simple directions.

Watching them reminded me of myself before the Lord. It's very easy to say that we need to listen to the Lord yet when it comes to practice it is so difficult. The Lord always gives us very clear and simple directions and yet we have a hard time following them. We are a stubborn-minded people and so often we think that we only need a listen to a part of the directions or that we know a better way to do things so we do as we like. In the end though the kids get in trouble and we also find ourselves in situations that are easily avoidable if we just listen and obey.

The Lord has already promised that He will carry us if only we would choose to listen to Him. Whenever we try to carrying our own burdens we find ourselves quickly weighed down but as soon as we allow Him to carry us we are set free. Thank the Lord that our God is so patient and loving towards us, even when we fail to follow His directions He corrects us through His love. May we all have a listening ear and an obediant heart before the Lord.