Archives for June 2011

One of my dear ones wrestles with attention. From the time she’s been little, getting her to pay attention has been a challenge. She has a delightful personality that isn’t bothered by pesky details. She is happy, has a tender conscience, and cares about people (much of the time).  In general, sustaining attention is not a strength.

Recently, I’ve been dealing with how her attention is manifest in how she obeys when I tell her to put away sometimes that she has left out. This happens frequently. I’ve been watching her, and I think I figured out that when I ask her to put something away, she gives only enough attention to pick something up. Because she’s not really paying attention, a second or two later, she has no idea where she’s going or why she’s holding the object. So she puts it down and goes on her merry way.

I am certain that her sin nature is cooperating with her natural lack of attention. It’s true that she doesn’t like to put things away, but I’ve watched her lose attention when it’s her OWN object that she’s picked up for some purpose. When this sort of thing happens, I have a very important clue that more is at work besides simple disobedience.

So, we talked about attention. I told her that I noticed that sometimes she pays attention to pick something up when she is obeying mommy, but she doesn’t pay attention long enough to figure out what to do with something. I told her that one way she could pay attention longer was to ask herself a question whenever she picks something up. “Self, where does this go?” Then she needs to answer herself. I’m on her team, and I know she doesn’t like forgetting what she’s doing. (Actually, that was an assumption, but I like verbalizing good intentions when I’m giving strategies for doing right. Keeps kids off the defensive.)

So, she’s been doing it. It’s cute to hear her say, “Self, where does this go?” Yes, sometimes she forgets to answer, and I know that unless I prompt her, she may never get to her destination. But it has helped her, and I’m surprised that she took it seriously.

So goes another day in the quest for teaching attention.

Here is my question today: How much knowledge do I need in order to be wise?

It’s a trick question, I think. We think of wisdom as a plateau that we reach, and our answer might reflect this perspective, but if wisdom is a learned skill, then we might answer the question differently.

Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Psalm 111:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Matthew 7:24
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

 

You can see that one must know something that God desires before he can do it. How many things must a mother know before she can obey?

Just one.

and then another.

and another.

What’s significant about the Matthew passage is that we often think if we believe the right things, we’re like the man building his house on the rock. But that’s not what Jesus says. In fact, you can know all the right Bible verses and still be like the man building a house on the sand. What Jesus says is that a wise person will hear the Word of God and obey it.

It doesn’t matter if you’re just learning about the Bible, or if you’ve grown up hearing it. It doesn’t matter if we understand most of the Bible, or find much of the Bible a mystery. No matter what our background, we are all able to obey what we know, and we all must obey God one spiritual step at a time. God works in all of our lives differently. The lessons He is teaching me, He may not be teaching you. What I’m struggling with might bring a smile because you’re learned through a similar struggle.

Often, we childishly pray for wisdom, yet in fact, we are not acting on knowledge that God has given already. I have found this true in my life. This morning I’m asking myself, Self, what do you need to obey today? And the laundry calls in a tiny voice, “Over here!” So off I go.