Is It That Hard to Hear What I Say – Breath of Life Women’s Ministries

by Michelle Welch

“In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.”
Psalm 5:3 (NIV)

I don’t know about your house but we have a serious amount of hearing loss at our house. I suppose it’s just what you get when you have a house full of people who shall remain unnamed but whose initial are t.e.e.n.a.g.e.r.s. When sweetheart and I moved to our new house, we decided that after all these years of older, well worn furniture, we had finally arrived at the point in our life when we could get new furniture. Not only that, we could get GASP! leather furniture! Every mom in the world will tell you that you can never, ever even consider a leather couch when you have a. children, b. pets, or c. an untrained husband. Ok, well that last part is just between us but you know what I mean. With some misgivings, I agreed to the leather furniture. So far so good on the leather. They seem to have heard the threats about the leather but have completely ignored the rules about the wooden coffee and side tables. In a word…..COASTERS people. Is it that hard to understand? And do you know what I see almost every time I arrive back home from work? Not on the table runner, not on the coaster, not in the cup holder. It’s like they just do it to mock me!

And while we are on the subject, let’s discuss the cereal and the milk. Below you will see what I usually get when I go looking for cereal. Is it so hard to drink the last swallow of milk or eat the last 1/4 cup of cereal? Not that I even get the kind of cereal I like anyway because somehow between the grocery bag and the cabinet, it gets consumed by the ghost of cereal eaters anonymous. The same can be said for the orange juice, the soda we buy, and the ice cream. There is also the ghost of stale cheez its, cookies, chips, and crackers because there couldn’t possibly be a reason to close the bag inside the box after opening.

Or the dreaded “it’s the only thing I could find” monster when I find six saltines in a gallon size plastic bag. Of course it’s not the cheap regular plastic bag but the ultra thick freezer gallon bags that cost about a buck each. Or the “I forgot I used the last of the toilet tissue” monster. Are you serious? You didn’t notice that all the paper came off the roll and you were left staring at a little cardboard tube? That didn’t jog your memory? Between using the last bit of paper and standing up, your brain lost track of that memory? How much did we pay for your schooling?

I started thinking about how often I do the same thing to my Abba. Ok well, I am sure I don’t use the last of his toilet paper but I know I get on his very last nerve sometimes. I can just see Him looking down at my life and throwing His arms up and saying….really Michelle? You have got to be kidding me? Didn’t I just tell you that? He lays out a set of rules that are exceedingly simple to follow. They couldn’t be any more clear. It doesn’t require a lot of work to do what He asks. Yet time after time, I don’t finish what He asked me to do. I don’t put aside the sins He asked me to put aside. I take something minor that someone says or does to me and put it into a big useless bag of mountain out of a molehill status. Didn’t He just give me His words via His disciple and on my way out of church I am already forgetting the message?

He gives me a coaster to set between me and the world. A protection from sins. A circle of love that only He can give me. Each and every day, if I start my day with Him and His Word, I will always have something to set my cares upon. I will never have to worry about the stain that sin could leave on my soul because He gave me His Son to bear the burden of those sins if I ask forgiveness. I can make no excuses and take no shortcuts. It is His word I must live by and His life I must follow. I need His guidance every day. Not once a week and not once in a while. I pray for the strength each and every day to remember to put that coaster under my daily activities. It is a good thing that my Abba has infinitely more patience than I do. I am so glad He doesn’t run around taking pictures of my mistakes and putting them on public forums!