Mom: “What did that nurse say about me going home?”
Me: “You mean you didn’t hear her??? You acted like you
did.”
Mom: “Well, these dumb hearing aids keep chiming; the
batteries need changed again!”
Me: “Mom, you need to tell the doctors and nurses you are
having trouble hearing. Otherwise, they assume you hear just fine.”
Mom (with chin up and arms crossed): “I do hear just fine!”
Conversations similar to this one, are very common with my
86-year-old mother. The last few years she has experienced drastic hearing loss.
Hearing aids help, but only to a certain degree—and only if the batteries are
fresh. Otherwise, they act more like stuffing cotton in her ears, muffling the
little hearing she does have left.
Mom gets very perturbed at us when we even hint that
she isn’t hearing well. I don’t think she realizes just how bad her hearing is,
or that it is out of concern for her that we keep asking about it. She consistently
denies the problem.
Sadly, when it comes to matters of the Spirit, I can be just
like my mom. I sometimes don’t realize how bad the problem is. And even when it
is gently pointed out to me, I deny it.
Like the time I looked over the shoulder of a lady with whom
I was “discussing” a situation and found Dick grimacing while giving me the
“Cut-throat” sign to stop. After the lady left, Dick told me I bordered on rude
with her. I denied it—until later when God showed me Dick was absolutely right
and I needed to admit my sinful attitude.
Until we acknowledge a problem, it can’t be remedied.
Proverbs 15: 31-32 says, “If you pay attention when you are corrected, you are
wise. If you refuse to learn, you are hurting yourself.”
Until we confess a sin, it will fester. Proverbs 28:13 tells
us “He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and
renounces them will find mercy.”
David voices wisdom we need to learn: “Then I confessed my
sins to you; I did not conceal my wrongdoings. I decided to confess them to
you, and you forgave all my sins.” (Psalm 32:5)
When we have a spiritual problem moldering, 1 John 1:9
reminds us that, if we confess our sins, God will forgive them and cleanse us
from all wrongdoing. Let's start addressing the sins we struggle with instead
of turning a deaf ear to the warning bells God rings along the way.
Be encouraged!
Pam
©2019 Pamela D. Williams
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or writepam71@gmail.com.
