Listening

A friend of mine recently was talking about how she is always in conversation with God. That He directs her, she talks to him out loud while she is washing the dishes, doing the laundry, He tells her to do things that might seem random but she sees why she did them later on and can see how God was working through the situation. She said it's not always like this. She said it's kind of like a muscle that the more she prays and spends time with God the more He speaks to her. The less and less she meets with Him the less she hears from Him. She says she's far from perfect in keeping an ear to Him, but when she does He is so close.

I have been thinking about that this morning. Listening to God and praying, as though He is just walking through the day with you. I was thinking about the book The Practice of the Presence of God which is a book of letters from Brother Lawrence who made it his goal to pray without ceasing. He wondered if that was truly possible, so he tried it. He was a dishwasher, I think in a monastery.

As my friend was speaking about this the other day a thought struck me (probably it was God speaking): is my schedule open enough to just hear from the Lord? Do I have the time, do I take the time to stop and listen? I definitely read the Word every morning, that's a no-questions-asked, I-will-do-this-no-matter-what thing. But after that time of focused time in His Word, how much time do I think about asking Him what He wants me to do?

Lord, teach me to listen to You and Your Holy Spirit that You have put inside of me. Help me to know how to follow You with and without a schedule. I pray that my busyness would not get in the way of Your voice. Tune my heart to Your ear.