I Want to Talk!

Our family was sitting around the table with General Hubbub reigning.  Everyone was in the process of saying something.  Our children were sharing something they'd read, or some odd trivia they'd found on a map of Virginia, or something that had happened to them (and not doing with library voices either).

In the midst of this Victoria's plaintive voice came wailing, "I want to talk!"

We were all silent for a few moments and then I asked her, in the stillness, "What do you want to say, Victoria?"

There was another pause, then she said, "I don't know."

I suppose the thing is not so much that Victoria wanted to talk as she wanted to have someone else listen to her and pay attention to her.

I think that all of our children have had similar moments.  These are times when they feel as though they have not had enough attention from their family and cry out for it in one way or another.

They come by this honestly, because I too have developed some attention seeking behaviors at certain immature moments.  While my job is listening to others, there are more than a few times that I have wanted someone to listen to me.

The blessing is that God is always listening.  He tells us in the book of Isaiah "Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear."

Many times that is all I need.  I don't need someone to solve every problem or part the Red Sea for me.  I just need a Heavenly Father who listen to how my day  was and tell me that He cares and just be there to hear me and love me.

And while my Father in heaven created the Universe, sometimes I think His willingness to listen to me is His most miraculous trait of all.