Day 5: Maybe You Oughta Clean Out Your Ears

Here in Toddlerville, our vocabulary is . . . well . . . what you might call, adaptive.  By that, I mean that the girls, whose language is not yet 100%, make up words, adjust the pronunciation of words (saying them with their cute little speech impediments) or shorten the name of something in order to be able to communicate what they want, without having to use a lot of words.

Some examples, if something is breakable, they say "breakabee."
Music is "mikik."  Lips are "bips."
If they want to watch "The Polar Express" they say that they want to watch "train," or they say "seven doors" if they want to watch "Snow White."

Usually we get what they want, but sometimes it can be a bit, ummm . . . well . . . difficult.  We play a game where we repeatedly say, "what?"  and they repeat.  And we say, "what?" and they repeat.  And we say "what?" and they repeat.  Eventually they raise their voices.  This does not help.  Soon, they just drag us to what they want. And then we say "oh!

I was thinking the other day about this and how much it mimics the way I interact with God.  He tries to tell me something, and I say, "What?"  and then He tries to tell me something and I say, "What?"  and then He says it in a different way, eventually physically SHOWING me what He wants.  At which point I say, "Oh!"

The difference in the two scenarios is that the reason I can't understand the girls is because they can't speak clearly.  Something is keeping them from being about to communicate clearly.  The reason I can't understand God is because I can't hear clearly.  Something is keeping me from being able to understand Him or sometimes from being able to hear Him at all.

I have discovered that more often than not, the "something" that's blocking my ears when it comes to hearing God is unforgiveness. It's funny to me how adept unforgivenss is at hiding.
So I make it a part of my daily time with God just to ask Him if there is something I am holding onto, some form of unforgiveness that is keeping me from hearing Him.  And when He shows it to me, I release it. (I make this sound easy.  Often it isn't)  But once I have released my bitterness, anger, and unforgiveness (they seem to travel as a group), then I find that I can hear God clearly.
All that to say, as my grandma used to say, "If you cain't hear, maybe you oughta clean out your ears!"