Laying in bed in our awesome cabin in the woods and listening. There are few car noises and no one yelling at each other or needing my attention. Listening to the quiet.
Listening is a skill and it is learned intentionally.
Many relationships suffer because one or both parties don't know how to listen. Oh, we are good at reacting and defending ourselves, but do we really listen to understand or just to respond? To get our two cents in. I am as guilty as the next guy.
What about with God? Do we ask for answers and then not listen for a response? My kids are notorious for this. If we really asked God to get an answer and not just as as venting mechanism, wouldn't we listen for a response? That is called communication: one speaks while the other listens and then you switch roles.
So when we listen, what is God saying? God speaks to me a lot and not because I'm anything awesome, but because he has taught me how to be a listener. I'm naturally a doer and a planner and a analyzer, so I've had to learn to turn all of that off and just listen. With no thought to my expectations of what God is saying but just listening to really hear what he says. God speaks a lot and when he is silent, that is also God speaking.
I think we often separate the physical world we live in from the spiritual world in which God moves and speaks. When we realize these are connected, existing together, we are just beginning to hear and see everything God is doing and saying around us.
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