Aleve (Joe Widick)

Tonight's article is again penned by my dear friend, Joe Widick. Joe taught with me at Friendship Christian School in Lebanon, Tennessee and later became the high school administrator. I was blessed to teach his three children and even teach with one, Lane, here at WCS. Joe is married to the lovely Elaine and serves full time as an elder and minister with the Maple Hill Church of Christ. Keep me in your prayers as I serve in Vietnam!

On January 4, my sisters and I began a task that we knew was coming.  We began the process of going through our parent’s home sorting out what went to each of us.  Sometimes as we work through a room, we laugh at the things we find.  Other times we find ourselves crying.  It has not been an easy process for us.  When our parents left home, we let the home just as they left it.  It almost felt like they were on a trip and we could expect them to come walking through the door just anytime.  Among the things we discovered were several brown, dried up leaves.  They were in every room.  Daddy liked to pick flowers out of the yard for mother, and I thought this was just something else he wanted mother to have.  My younger sister told me that was not the case.  Mother’s knees hurt often and prevented her from getting up and doing many of the things she would have normally done.  On occasion she would ask daddy to bring her a couple of Aleve for the aches and pains she was experiencing.  Daddy would literally do anything for mother.  Unfortunately daddy had two strikes against hm.  One he could not hear what mother was saying so for him Aleve sounded much like a leaf.  His oncoming dementia was also causing him to struggle with what to do.  Mother would ask for the Aleve and he would go out in the yard and bring her a leaf.  Because she seemed to be upset that he brought her a leaf instead Aleve, he would go back out into the yard and get a different type of leaf for her.  

I wonder how many times you and I fail to hear what it is that God is saying to us.  I wonder if we don’t listen as carefully as we should when Tim brings a message from God’s word.  What about when one of the elders makes an announcement about an upcoming event, do we hear what is being said?  It has been said that we have two ears and one mouth; therefore we should do twice as much listening as speaking.  I don’t know how true that is, but I do believe we need to be good hearers of God’s word.  When Christ spoke to the seven churches of Asia, he concluded each discourse with the phrase; “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  Imagine how much better we would be if we listened more carefully to the eternal words of life that are shared with us in our Bible.  There is one other thing to consider.  As important as hearing is, we also need to be busy doing.  The wise man and foolish man  story tell us that that is needed. Because one wants to be wise, they listen carefully to the instruction from God and then strive to put it into practice with our daily lives.   My father heard something and he went out immediately trying to do to the best of his ability what it was that needed to be done.  Are we hearing what God has to say to us?  Are we striving to carry out what God wants us to do?  Each of us needs to answer these questions.   

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com