Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Why do we talk to each other this way?

On Sunday nights, we are having a class for teens and parents about comunication. This week, one of the main points is going to be about how parents and teens speak to each other...

After a while, it can be a real temptation to stop speaking to one another. Or, you speak to each other only when you need something! Have you heard these comments in YOUR house...?

"Hey, you need to get in there and clean up that room."

"Hey Dad, can I have twenty bucks? I'm going out with friends."

"I need you to pick up your little sister...I'm going to be at work longer that I thought."

"Mom, can I borrow the car tomorrow?"

Unfortunately, our conversations sometimes sink to ASKING or DEMANDING. Parents only speak to demand something from their kids, or kids only speak to ask something of their parents. What a sad situation...and yet I fall into this trap sometimes too (with my wife!)

Then I started thinking, "Isn't that the way we talk to God, too?"

It's sad, really. Many times, I feel like I just talk to God to ask something of Him, like he's the parent and I'm the teenager. I get so self-centered that I just think of what I want, and don't realize that maybe God just wants to hear about my day! Maybe all He wants is for me to talk to Him, to pour out my heart and tell Him how I'm feeling!

I want to be like Abraham who, the Bible tells us, spoke to God like he spoke to his friends. Or, there's Enoch, who apparently had such good talks with God, that God decided to just take him to heaven and not wait for him to die!

If you'll excuse me, there's someone I need to just talk to. Not demand, not ask for something...just talk. I need to talk to my Father...

2 comments:

Shane Coffman said...

Right on the money, Franklin.

I directed a "Concert of Prayer" on the Sunday evening after Thanksgiving for our folks. I told them the rule was that we were not to ask God for anything that night - only to thank Him for what he has already blessed us with.

I found that some people simply cannot do that. They are so programmed to ask and ask and ask that after one or two "thank you's", they slip right back into the "please bless this and that" mode.

We need some work in this area, don't we?

Franklin Wood said...

Shane, yes we definitely have work to do in this area. I always thought of prayer as the ONE area of our worship that wasn't really "scripted." Well, it's not really scripted, but I think it may be stuck in the same rut as other areas of worship.
Klay, I agree, but it is SO hard to find quiet places! I believe it is also important to TRY to discipline yourself to talk to God in the MIDST of the buzz of life. My problem is that if I wait until I'm quiet, I'll find something else to do with the quiet time...usually something that's not quiet!