When my girls were little I ordered tithing envelopes for them also so they could learn and get in the habit of tithing. You know you think you raise your kids the same but one gets it and one doesn't. Sarah would tithe on her own and I would always try to tell her that is why she never struggled with having money. She was smart with her money. If I saw her put her envelope in the collection plate on Sunday morning I always tried to say something positive to her about it. Ivey was two and half years younger and she was always listening.
Ivey would disappear on Sunday afternoon and come back with her tithing envelope ready for the next Sunday. It would be so full of coins that you could not close it. She had emptied her piggy bank. Every time I could watch that envelope start shrinking over the course of the week. By Sunday there was nothing left in there....until we got home and said something to Sarah. Ivey had good intentions on Sunday afternoon.
Isn't that how we adults are? Not just about tithing but about anything. Maybe Bible Study. For me it is about being still and listening. I talk to God off and on all day. I doubt there are many waking hours that I do not say something to him or thank Him for something. When I am in the car alone or at home alone I like to talk out loud to Him. It just makes it a real relationship to me. I do not talk non stop but I do not listen.
Do you know how mad it makes me when my husband does not listen? I listen to him! Case closed. That must be how it makes God feel. Like He is not important. I have good intentions to be still and listen but I have to truly work at this! Psalm 46: 10, "He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
I learned to sit down and ask God to talk to me because His servant is listening. 1 Samuel 3: 9, "So Eli told Samuel, 'Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place." God is not silent and we have to be in tune to Him. He will guide us. Our world is so busy and loud that it is easy to not hear Him. We have to work at "hearing" Him. We must be quiet and be focused on what He is saying.
God will speak to us through many ways. He speaks to us through his Word, our mentors, creation, life situations, by opening doors or slamming them shut. Be listening for Him! Then listen to Him! Our life is much more rich when we have two way conversations with God!
Comments