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Escucha




When our daughter was in high school she took a Spanish class. I remember a particular time while I was busy in the kitchen and she was telling me something. I'm sure in her mind it was of the utmost importance. If it was important to her, it should have be important to me too. Unfortunately, I can't remember what it was but I do remember being preoccupied. Then she said something that stopped me in my tracks,  "escucha." I looked at her not because I was all of a sudden engaged but because I had no idea of what she meant. I asked her what that word meant in English and if she had just cussed me out in Spanish? She laughed and said "No, it means listen.... Mom, you weren't even listening." Urrghh! I so dislike when I do that. I get side tracked or preoccupied with my own agenda and thoughts that bounce around in my head that I can't listen to those that need me to. 

I wish I could tell you that some eight plus years later I have nailed it. That I am fully engaged when my husband comes home from a long day at work and starts to share his day or what he heard on the news on his way. I'd love to tell you that I stop what I am doing, make eye contact with him and escucha to his ever word. Nope! I'm still in the kitchen preoccupied with my own thoughts bouncing around in my head. Seriously, sometimes it does feel like a couple of monkeys playing with a yoyo in there. Focus, Connie! 

I know I am wired differently than the cerebral people in the world. I have a short attention span and it doesn't take much for me to lose focus. I have that OLS disease. "Oh Look Shiny". It doesn't even have to be shiny to distract me. It can be just a couple of monkeys and a yoyo. 

I will not however, give in to it. I will continue to better my escucha skills and focus on being all there when it comes to others in conversation. I'm learning that in order for me to do that, I do need to turn everything else off. As much as I take pride in being a multitasker, I can not escucha to more than one person at a time. I cannot have the TV on while I'm trying to give my undivided attention to whoever is talking to me. Nor, can I reply to or read a text while someone else is talking to me. I need to silence my phone when I am with others. 

I've been trying to escucha to God more lately too. My habit of prayer as become heavy on the talking side. I have a list of people to pray for and I want to continue to do that but I also want to turn everything else off so that I can truly escucha to His voice. He may not speak in an audible voice to me but He does speak to His children. And the good news is He hears us too. Unlike me when our daughter was talking to me in the kitchen those years ago and I had unintentionally tuned her out, He never tunes us out. He hears our cries, our praises and our concerns. But He also has a lot He wants to share with us. Namely, Himself. 

I'm learning that He doesn't force Himself on me. He patiently waits for me to quiet the monkeys in my head, tune out the other distractions like mentally making my grocery list or thinking about the text I haven't received back from someone. He is gentle and waits for me to escucha. He may whisper my name and ask me to listen but if I'm so busy with my own barrel of monkeys how will I hear His still small voice? I don't want to miss anything He has to say. I know if it's important to Him it needs to be important to me too. 

-Pressing On
“and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Deuteronomy 30:20 NIV


"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
John 10:27 NIV


“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,”
James 1:19 NIV


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