to listen

"The word obedient comes from the Latin word audire, which means 'listening'... Jesus' life was a life of obedience. He was always listening to the Father, always attentive to his voice, always alert for his directions. Jesus was 'all ear.' That is true prayer: being all ear for God." - Henri J.M. Nouwen 

Sometimes my daughter demands my full attention. Being her mother for almost a year now, I know the difference between her hungry/sleepy/teething/dirty diaper cries and her "whiney for no reason, cater to me and ONLY me" cry. Learning to ignore the tantrums or to take action and discipline takes practice. The easy thing to do is to just give in to my child's tantrums, allowing her actions to control me. 

This aspect of parenting reminds me of the loud, anxious thoughts that can take over my being. I have a choice: I either sit back and let the anxious thoughts control me or I discipline my mind and heart to listen to the Holy Spirit's guidance. Learning the discipline of solitude is key in this. Anyone who's human knows how hard it is to cut out time in the day to be quiet. There are too many distractions to count, but I can make excuses for the rest of my life, and that will get me nowhere. It's a constant battle, but like any discipline, it gets easier as time goes on. So, a year from now I will look back on this post and have this completely down. An hour of solitude every day.

Haha, Right.  

My goal right now is 15 minutes of complete solitude each day. 

It's doable, but we'll see...