How is your Lenten journey going? It's my prayer that you are finding time to spend with God as we journey towards the cross together.

It's not easy to find quiet time. The world is a loud place. It's easy to feel overwhelmed with the news and all that is going on in our nation and our world. I think of the story of Henny Penny, AKA Chicken Little. It's the folk tale about a chicken who believes that the world is coming to an end when an acorn falls on its head. Henny Penny keeps saying, "The sky is falling!". Those words have become a common idiom indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent.

Certainly there are serious things going on in our nation and our world. There's lots to pray about, but there's no need for us to run around and declare that disaster is imminent. After all, because of Easter, we know God is in control. God has defeated the grave, death and sin all because of Jesus Christ. Because He lives we can face tomorrow with peace in our hearts.

Yet in the meantime, we live on this planet. Is there anything we can do to help the serious situations we see on the news or in our own neighborhoods and homes?

In his book Pauses For Lent" 40 Words For 40 Days, Trevor Hudson offers this word for day 18: LISTEN.

James 1:19 says, "Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak."

Trevor says, "The German theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, 'Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking when they should be listening.' Listening lies at the heart of life with God. But in order to listen to God, we need to learn how to listen to the person next to us. After all, how can we listen to God, whom we cannot see, if we cannot listen to the person we can see?

Lent can be a time when we embark on a spiritual adventure in learning to listen. We can begin this exercise with those closest to us - our colleagues at work, family members, or friends. Listening will become a spiritual practice, an everyday habit, a way of life."

I love Trevor's suggestion to ask God for the gifts of ears. I would suggest writing out James 1:19 and say it to yourself several times a day. Make a conscious effort in every conversation to listen more than you usually do, while fighting the urge to make your opinion and your thoughts made known about everything.

What would our world, our nation, our church, our homes be like if we paused more often and LISTENED?

In Christ's ministry together ~ Pastor Caryn