Feb
11
2022
The Need To Be Heard
Posted in Prayer 4 Comments
Toddler-hood is a wonderfully exciting time.
Toddler-hood is also exhausting and not for the faint of heart.
I have been through the toddler years five times with each of my children.
I am now watching it from a different perspective with my grandchildren.
There is potty training during these toddler years.
There is training in manners.
There is training in patience, which can be a tough concept for a toddler to learn.
The world revolves around the toddler, according to them.
I was at my daughter’s house earlier this week.
She took my oldest granddaughter to preschool.
She then had to take her son to the doctor’s for his one month checkup.
I was with my twenty-two-month old granddaughter.
We had a lovely morning.
We read more books than I can count.
We played the piano; well I played the piano while she helped me.
We sang songs and made up hand motions for some of them.
I was staying for lunch, since my daughter had to go to a preschool conference.
The conference was during their nap/rest time.
I would have all three children in my care while my daughter was out.
Oh, the memories.
It is hard to have an adult conversation with toddlers around.
It is not because of rudeness or disobedience.
Rather, it is their sheer excitement about having so much to say.
They have so very much to say.
My daughter and I started to talk about something, after my granddaughters finished lunch.
The two of us were still sitting at the table.
Excuse me, Mommy, my oldest granddaughter said.
When attention was not paid at that moment, she said it again: Excuse me, Mommy.
Every mother of a toddler has heard those words.
What is meant to be a polite way of getting a mother’s attention is often repeated for emphasis.
It is repeated, and repeated, and…
I’m talking to Grandma so Mommy will listen to you in a minute, my daughter said calmly.
But I just want to show you my picture, she said holding up a coloring book.
We continued to talk at the table.
Do you see Cinderella?
She lost her slipper, and her dress is ripped, and it is twelve o’clock…
My daughter put up her finger in a waiting kind of pose.
Excuse me, Mommy. Excuse me, Mommy, as we tried to continue our short conversation.
My daughter got out an egg timer that she has in the kitchen.
She has a few sizes with varying amount of time until all the sand falls.
She turned over one of the quicker egg timers and said, I will listen when all the sand falls.
Mommy…she glanced over towards us.
Keep it in your head so you can remember to tell me, she said.
As a former kindergarten, then second grade teacher, I knew she has said that to her students.
Mommy…I’ll just tell you what is in my head!
My daughter and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.
We laughed the kind of laugh that brings tears to your eyes.
We laughed so hard we literally doubled over as we sat at the table.
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. (Jeremiah 29:12)
God listens to us when we pray.
We can come to Him over and over with our requests.
We can talk to Him and tell Him things.
He will always listen.
Excuse me, Father...
No egg timer.
No waiting.
Immediate response; continual presence.
My daughter is a loving mother who listens attentively to her children.
However, we are human, finite creatures.
We sometimes need a bit of a respite and that is just fine.
I needed that respite myself all those years ago.
Isn’t it wonderful that God needs no respite?
God, the Father, listens to each of us as if there was only one of us.
Excuse me, Father…
Before those words are even off our tongue, He hears us.
He hears us when our words are spoken out loud.
He hears us when we say the words in our head.
He hears us.
He loves to listen to His children.
Thank God He knows what is in our heads. I often do what I call “head praying.” Thinking my requests. Doing it silently. Sometimes I don’t know what to pray. So Thy will be done or Have mercy O Lord. Laying in bed at night awake, thinking of all the prayer requests, knowing I can’t do them all. He is Faithful.
Yes, Julie, God is faithful. Our prayer lists become longer and longer. It is a comfort to know that God knows our heart and the words we are about to say even before we say them.
Gina
What a blessing it is to have a Father who listens whenever we call on Him! Thanks for the reminder, Gina!
Sue, I needed the reminder, too.
Gina