Listening

John 16:1-33

"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.  Here on earth you will have many trial and sorrows.  But take heart; because I have overcome the world."

So I started to listen, and got distracted by emailing the Junior Church staff.  Typical.  Reflections on the passage?

• I can now talk directly to the Father.
• The Holy Spirit will teach me everything true.
• Jesus tells me these things so that I won't abandon my faith, so that I will remember His warning.
• There are many things that I, like the disciples, want to ask Jesus, and He invites me to ask!  He promises to speak clearly and not in puzzles or riddles or figurative speech.

Listening~not something most people do well.  I may be a little better than many, but I have a LONG way to go, especially listening to You, Lord.  I know in my head that "listening" to You means reading Your Word and meditating on it, thinking about what You are telling me--just me, no one else.  I don't have many of those aha! moments, but more often I have experienced something in the course of my life that reminds me of a Scripture or a spiritual song.

I did say that I would review some of my memory verses today, which I haven't done yet.  The next one is 1 Thessalonians 4:13, a very sad verse because it deals with death.  "Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope." 1 Thessalonians 4:13  I think of my mother, and the great-grandsons' recent recollection of Bill ("I am going to pay my bills" and "But Bill is in heaven!")  Oh may the reality of heaven make all grief bittersweet!  Of course, loving someone means missing them when we are apart, as I do my daughters.  (Speaking of which, I need to go home for a phone call from Julie.)  But knowing that they are happy and with You, and longing to be with You and with them, makes the missing-them part tolerable.

Since it is a little late, and I do want to get home for a phone call, I will end this post now but with regret.  Thanks, Lord.  I do love You more than anything.