If you don't pay attention, you could miss something important!

Welcome to my blog! My first post is dedicated to Cameron, my 10-year-old and second-born. Thanks to him, I had this experience! . . . . It all started when he wanted to go to a neighbor's house to play for a while before dinner. We said "OK - be home by 5:30." SWOOSH -- out the door he flew, totally excited to play with his friend, and we wondered if he had actually heard when we wanted him home. . . . 5:30pm approached, and there was no Cameron in sight. 5:35pm . . . dinner was on the table. My husband and I discussed whether we should call to the neighbor's and request that they send him home, but decided to use this as a teachable moment instead of "resucing" him. The rest of the family sat down for dinner; 6pm approached. We wondered if he thought we said 6pm instead of 5:30, but 6pm came and went, and we were clearing the table and cleaning up the dinner dishes. 6:15pm, and still there was no sign of Cameron. Maybe he thought we said 6:30 . . . and sure enough, at 6:28, Cameron walked in the door. The aroma of dinner lingered in the air, but Cameron noticed very quickly that we were not sitting at the table eating nor was there any food out; everything was cleaned up and put away.
"Cameron, you're an hour late. Sorry you missed dinner." my husband said.
"WHAT?!?!?! Why didn't you guys call me?" he said, obviously hurt that we didn't call.
"We're glad you got here in time to eat before church. Here's your dinner." we responded matter-of-factly.
He plopped down in the chair and reluctantly began to eat. I SO badly wanted to say "Well if you'd ever pay attention to what we say when we talk to you, maybe you would have heard that we wanted you home at 5:30 not 6:30!" You see, Cameron doesn't have the best listening skills . . . and this drives me C-R-A-Z-Y!!! *sigh*
I decided to give him (and myself!) a few minutes to cool down before I said anything, asking God to help me gently teach my son the importance of paying attention when spoken to. As Cameron took the last couple bites of his lonely meal, I sat beside him and said quietly, "Cameron, if you don't pay attention, you could miss something really important!"
He jumps back, "But you guys didn't even call me! Why not?"
I calmly replied, "Cameron, we told you what time you needed to be home for dinner, but you didn't listen carefully, so you missed it. We missed having you here, but you need to learn the importance of paying attention so you don't miss important things. This time you missed dinner; next time it could be something even more important. Please work on listening and paying attention better."
"OK, mom." he replied.
Reflecting on Refractions: So God began to speak to me about this from a spiritual perspective. How many times do we not pay attention to GOD when He is speaking to us? And how many times do we miss something important because we are distracted by the things around us? God speaks to us in many ways: obviously, through His Word, but also sometimes through other things like nature, circumstances, people or music. But how many times are we too distracted, busy or tired to notice His voice?

Hebrews 3:7-8 says, "So, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness.'"

Part of Isreal's rebellion was hardening their hearts to God's voice. Likewise, if we hear God's voice, we can either harden our hearts (by not responding to Him which is a form of rebellion), OR we can NOT harden our hearts (keeping them soft & pliable before Him) and choose to respond to Him and what He is speaking to us. I do not want to be guilty of a hard heart that does not respond to God's voice.

1 Peter 5:7-9 says, "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings."

This scripture tells us to be ALERT (or to pay attention!!!) because we have an enemy. If we are not paying attention, then we are more likely to be an easy target for Satan to devour. We are also to have a mind that is sober (or marked by temperance, moderation or seriousness). I want to train myself to be alert and serious about life, on the look out, paying attention to how Satan might be trying to attack or devour me or my family. I don't want to be just floating through life unaware or naive of the dangers (kind of like Cameron who only heard part of what we told him). There is too much at stake to not be paying attention to our Lord's voice. We stand against the devil by resisting him and standing firm in our faith; this is an active stance, not a passive one. We must both resist Satan AND stand FIRM in our faith -- we cannot be wavering in our faith -- we must be firm.

The first part of 1 Peter's verse talks about casting our anxiety on God because He cares for us; then we are told to be alert. Could it be that if we are wrapped up in our anxieties, problems, issues that we then are less capable of being alert to the devil's schemes? Is it possible that Satan uses our anxieties to try to distract us from hearing God's voice? I don't want to miss something important that God is showing me or speaking to me because I'm distracted by the anxieties and cares of my circumstances. I don't want to miss doing or being something that God is calling me to simply because I am just not paying attention. I don't want to miss something important just because I'm not paying attention.