Five Minute Friday is a supportive community of Christian writers with the main feature of taking a weekly one-word prompt and writing about it for five minutes flat. I’ll be honest… I’m a slow, messy, meticulous writer, so a time limit of five minutes with no additional time for editing and revising is way out of my comfort zone. But I’m up for the challenge and ready to be stretched, so here I go:
Today's one-word prompt: Listen
There’s a difference between hearing and listening.
Hearing is passive. We don’t decide on what we hear. Right now I hear the humming of my refrigerator, the tapping of my fingers on the computer keys, and the deep breathing of my dog who’s cuddled against my leg.
I hear the pounding of my heart in my ears as I try to write this post in five minutes!
But, this morning, I’ve also heard plenty of voices, some louder than others, telling me what I need to do, and should do, what I’m capable of, and what I’m not.
Here’s where listening comes in. Listening is active. We can decide what we listen to, what deserves our undivided attention. This makes me think of Bible verses about being alert and sober and taking every thought captive—all active words. If I’m not careful, the negative voices I hear can become the negative voices I listen to.
Today I choose active over passive, to listen to the still, small voice of God because He deserves my undivided attention. Anything else can go in one ear and out the other.