Is Anybody Listening?

Is Anybody Listening?

Again [the Lord] listened to me.

Deuteronomy 9:19

Public records reveal that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was constantly having to go to large receptions and stand while endless lines of people filed by just to shake his hand and speak a few words to him. This sometimes went on for hours at a time, and the president grew tired and impatient with it. The brief conversations he had with people as they came by were mindless and repetitive.

Finally one evening at such a reception, so the story goes, Roosevelt decided to find out whether people were really paying attention to what he was saying to them as they filed by.

As each person came up to him with extended hand, he flashed that big presidential smile and said, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.” Then he smiled again and waited for that person to move on.

As Roosevelt suspected, people automatically and unthinkingly responded with comments such as “How lovely!” or “Continue with your great work!”

Nobody actually seemed to listen to what the president was saying. So Roosevelt continued his game, which added an element of humor and fun to his typically boring routine.

After dozens of people had passed by, one foreign diplomat approached Roosevelt with hand outstretched. Roosevelt said, smiling, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.”

Without missing a beat, the diplomat shook Roosevelt’s hand and replied, “I’m sure she had it coming.”

Do you ever wonder if anybody is listening to you? In our noisy society, it is often difficult to know whether we can be heard over the din of daily life. And yet the Bible assures us that God is always listening to our prayers and the petitions of our hearts. We are never without a listening audience.

O God, thank you for listening to me, even when it seems no one else is. I am so grateful for your constant attention and sweet grace. Help me to listen carefully when you are speaking to me, too. Amen.