Making Time to Listen

A friend did a kind thing for us recently. He committed to making us get away to to his family's cabin. It wasn't until Thursday night that I actually believed it would happen, and because of car troubles we didn't actually get to leave until Saturday, but we did it. We got away. Three nights. 

Do you know that our daughter was still in diapers the last time we were away for more than two nights? And, the last time we were away at all for any kind of holiday? Well, let's just not go there. What matters is that it was a long time coming, and I am grateful for our friend's persistence. We needed this time in a serious way. We needed a chance to be quiet, to meditate. To listen. 

You see, we do not normally have a day off. Sometimes, we get hours off during the day, but it's more common for us to work from the time we wake-up until the we go to bed. There is almost always an email waiting for a reply, a document to create, a newsletter to write, text messages to send, studying or planning. Inevitably, there is a phone call. It's not good. And, it's gotten worse since I've been working more. Heading into our new year of ministry, we knew we needed to spend some time seeking the Lord, and searching our hearts. 

And, now, we are home. We still are seeking and searching, but we know some have some direction and some answers. We aren't sure how we will schedule a day off each week, but we know that needs to happen. We also are committing to putting away phone and computers by 10 p.m. We must make more time to listen. To each other, and to the Lord.  

We also know I need to be in the jail more, and Doug needs to be in the jail more. So, yeah. Figure that one out. Work more and work less, at the same time. That is one for the Lord to resolve!

One of my earliest memories as a child is sneaking out of bed and creeping into the hallway, so I could hear what I was missing. I don't know how we're going to make all the changes we need to make, but I know they are God's will. And, that's not something I'm willing to miss.