Okay, I’m standing in the grocery store in the cleaning supplies aisle and out of the blue I have this thought: “You need to go ahead and buy the toilet bowl brush.” Now, I’d been telling myself for several weeks I needed to replace that very necessary household item, but as I’m standing there, I reason myself out of the purchase. “It’s got to be cheaper at Wal-mart; this is a business purchase, not personal (we clean houses on the side); Mrs. Winnie has one; I really need at least 3 at home – let’s wait…” Lynn and I get to the house and jump in. I get everything swept and start the first bathroom. I turn around and…. the brush is missing. Mrs. Winnie and I look everywhere and it’s not to be found. She calls her daughter and she doesn’t know where it’s disappeared to. By this time we’re all laughing and Lynn’s asking who ate it (ugh – nasty thought 
)! I gather my keys and head back to the grocery store to get that needed item. It doesn’t amaze me anymore that God knows the things we need, He’s taken care of too many details (so many of them tiny) all along the way for me to be surprised at His attention. But how He must chuckle at times as to how dumb I am to not listen. I mean I had the prompting in word form and didn’t recognize His voice. Now, don’t get me wrong, this really isn’t a big deal and I wasn’t upset or aggravated by the situation, but it caused me to wonder. If God is interested in “unimportant” things, like toilet brushes and extra trips, enough to whisper a suggestion, I should train my spiritual ears to hear and know it’s Him even then. I look for God’s instruction in the big, eternal things, but He’s right by my side every moment. Sometimes I think our letting Him be involved in the little things in our lives bring Him as much pleasure as the major issues – especially when we hear and know it’s Him. Thankfully He loves and continues to train me.
Cleaning the house took us a little less than 4 hours!! Pretty good, believe me. It had been 2 months since we’d last done it and we were prepared for 5 hours. God blessed and Mrs. Winnie paid us extra for the additional 1 1/2 hours we were there!! That was totally unexpected as we missed last month and were therefore behind because of our schedule, not hers. God is so good to us!
One response to “Will I Ever Learn to Listen?”
It’s always interesting to me how much God enjoys taking part in even the “small” things of our lives. I just wish he would talk with a big booming voice sometimes, instead of insisting that I actually pay attention and listen carefully to his “still small voice.” I’m glad the cleaning went well. How much do y’all charge? I might enlist your services some time.