Devotion for Tuesday, March 3, The First Week of Lent
Matthew 6:7-15 | …for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
We know that infants and young children need to be known, need to be mirrored, in order to thrive. A little girl or little boy who does not see their feelings reflected in the faces of those who care for them will soon become despondent. I think of young kids on top of a jungle gym yelling to their parents, “Look at me!”
Me too. Years ago it was pointed out to me that I constantly asked the question, “Do you know what I mean?” This could be exasperating for the listener. Still, I found it very hard to stop; the question would come upon me like an impulse—“Do you understand what I’m saying? Do you know what I’m talking about?”
Even if unsaid, have you ever wondered if you are really being heard?
The truth of our faith is that in the final analysis, God alone hears our inmost selves. And God hears us so intently that he hears in “sighs too deep for words.”
What is amazing is that when we know we are heard, we find ourselves able to listen. And those wonderful saints who have heard us become in some real way the presence of Christ in our lives.
PRAYER
Dear God, let me know you have heard me
and grant me the joy of listening.