Yorktown News-View
Back in the early 1990’s my wife and I were visiting some friends in a town we were going to move to. I had accepted a job at the newspaper, and we were searching for places to live. Visiting with some long-time friends in that town, we were enjoying some friendly conversation as we were eating dinner.
This was a time before social media or cell phones. My friend answered his home phone and ask me to come to it. It was my second daughter calling from the town where we actually lived, about 40 miles away from where we were. Getting a call unexpectedly causes apprehension, especially when she was home with one of her girlfriends and her two smaller siblings.
I answered the phone and the first words I hear from my daughter are, “No need to worry dad and the firemen are gone.”
These were not exactly the words I wanted to hear, and fear jumped into my mind automatically. I did not know what else she was going to say however, I concluded that my house was on fire and that my children were in danger. I became excited and scared until I heard, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story.
So many of us in today’s world jump to conclusions before listening to the entire story about the situation. We are a people that are fast to react and slow to retract until someone gets our attention. We all need to pay attention to what we are told in James 1:19, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”
If everyone would pay attention to this verse, then this world would be a much better place to live in. Most of us are quick to react instead of listening to the entire conversation. Most conflicts can be avoided if all of us would learn to keep our mouths shut until we hear what has actually happened instead of reacting to what we think we are going to hear. It does not matter what the situation is, and many problems are caused in this world because people do not hear the entire story. This is called life and we are all creatures of habit. We often see the worst of a situation until we find out the truth of the problem.
I have always used the old saying that God gave us two ears and one mouth because we should listen twice as much as we are to speak.
Anyway, thankfully I kept my peace about me when my daughter called me that day and I listened to what she had to say. She and her friend decided they were going to cook dinner for their boyfriends that evening and as they were preparing the meal, they caused a grease fire on the stove. Immediately they doused the fire with water, which was a mistake. It did not spread throughout the house, but the smoke was unbearable, and the fire department was called.
The firemen went throughout the entire house and the attic and gave them all was okay. We did have some smoke damage but that was good because we did not lose any children or a house.
I am so thankful I did listen to her instead of reacting to what I thought I would see when I got home. I was glad she called instead of one of the policemen or firemen because I would have really had trouble with the conversation.
All of us need to listen and hear what is being said in any situation before we react to what we think is going to be said.
Prayer: Thank you Lord for taking care of the family you have allowed us to have. I pray that I will always listen to them and hear what they are telling me before I react. Amen.
