Going through old papers, and found this that I wrote in a devotional back in 2003.
I was talking with my brother last night, and he brought up the fact, and yes, I mean fact, that women talk so much that men can't get a word in edgewise. Well, he put it much more tactfully than that, but that is the general gist of the subject.
According to him, and I can't attest to this because I do not wish to appear "Yakky", women have like 60,000 words to say per day, apparently all stored up. (In reality we probably have more, but hey fellows, we hold back for your sakes.)
Men, on the other hand, have only about 20,000. Women spend about 20,000 of them a day telling kids "No", speaking in Dr. Seuss and Barney languages, and when their men get home, they are ready at last to communicate. The problem is, the men have spent 19.990 of their words at work and only have like 10 left when they hit the door. If they yell, "Honey, I'm home!" They will only have 7 words left to communicate and thereafter are reduced to grunts.
But then is exactly when the women want to communicate! Poor guys. And of course this made me think. (I have been accused of that occasionally.) But I was just pondering this. Mulling it over. It seems to be a spiritual problem with humans vs. The Eternal Being as well.
We take our daily prayer time with God and we talk, talk, talk, and then we are ready to communicate. Hey guys, this is not just us women. Heads up, you do this too!
So let me detail a typical prayer. One of mine.
"Good morning, God! I love you, Jesus! Praise you!"
And God said, "Good morning, Susan..." and then I interrupted.
"Ok Lord, here's my list, hmmm. I want to pray for our nation, and no more wars, and our leaders, and my son's and my son's wives and my daughter and my daughters future husband and my husband if I ever have one, and blah, blah, blah... yak..."
And God said, "Susan, I have something to say..Excuse me, Lord of Heaven and Earth to Susan.." and I interrupted
" And Lord, I want to thank you for the trees and the flowers and my car and my job, and my house and blah, blah, blah.." (Here, God probably rests his great eternal chin on His hand and sighs.)
"And Lord I want to add, Blah, Blah, Blan yak yak yak.." And on and on I go. Sometimes for hours. Do I listen? Occasionally, if I happen to run out of air, or words. (Yes, guys that does happen sometimes.) Or if some calamity has already happened because I DIDN'T listen.
God wants to communicate with us! This is a two way street. I know from experience that if I don't listen, I pay for it in the long run. Or worse, I miss something that could benefit my spirit.
We need to LISTEN. Turn on our spiritual ears and shut our mouths sometimes. He has a lot to tell us. About Him, about our lives, and about our world. Most of the time we are so busy yakking, we cant hear. Want to hear something I hear when I finally shut up?
"Susan, I love you. I gave my life so we could have this talk. I have given it so you can live..." And that gets my attention every time.
I think sometimes we just need to listen. To God and then to apply that to listening to others. Just hearing His Heart and the heart of others. A little less talk and a lot more action.
Ok, now that I have said that, at least I have used up about 530 of my 60,000 words, so I will shut up.
"Be Still and Know that I am God, I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth" Psalm 46:10
God richly bless you all!!,
Susie
Copyright 2003
