There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:
²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.
~ Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

A time to be silent. . . and in the silence, a time to listen. I have been feeling that need to press in to listen past week. . . . Maybe you’ve felt blown about, shaken, a little burned, too. . . maybe a lot tossed about, a lot shaken, burned to a crisp, but God isn’t in the world’s storming, shaking, and singeing. He’s in the still small voice. . . and we’ve got to lean in, lean in and listen, really listen, and in the listening, He reveals the truth.

Last week at a Charlie Kirk vigil at our town square, I spied a Listening Tree – and I had to smile. The story goes something like this:

“Once upon a time, just as long ago as it was a child did not listen, trees lived on the edge of a mountain, leaning over the valley below, listening. . . .The trees leaning over the sides of the mountain listened. They listened with all their ears to hear whether the children used their ears and paid attention to their parents. If the children didn’t listen and heed, when the moon was the curve of a raccoon’s whisker, the trees on the edge of the mountain would tramp down into the towns and farms, stealing the ears of children who didn’t listen. While the children slept, they’d steal their ears to hang as ornaments on their branches and limbs.

Unless a child tried very hard to listen again, not with ears but within their spirits, the ears would stay, becoming a part of the tree, enabling it to hear further and further away from the edge of the mountain.

But if a child did learn to listen in its spirit, wanting to hear the things that ought to be heard, then the trees would tramp back down the mountain when the moon was the curve of a raccoon’s whisker and return the ears they had stolen.”

Last week, my writer’s heart smiled, looking around at the diverse age groups filling the space around the courthouse, looking at the listening tree over by those speaking – and it was as though the trees dropped all those stolen ears – and they were picked up, being used by those maybe who had long ago stopped listening to things that needed listening to. . . even in the listening tree world, there is the opportunity to redeem that which has been lost.

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak;
courage is also what it takes to sit down
and listen.”
~ Winston Churchill

“Every happening, great and small, is a parable
whereby God speaks to us,
and the art of life is to get the message.”
~ Malcolm Muggeridge

As the summer flowed, ebbed to its end,
I listened and heard the hot sun
burning a thirsty thyme
and the sound of hose water quenching,
the heat of the schedule
an excuse to not wander and hear
the patter of rabbit feet
in a garden gone to seed
listening instead to the rustle
of raspberry leaves
my fingers finding it empty
of fruit spent in a summer fade.

I listened and heard
a memory
of the rattle and clatter
of train sounds long gone
its dining car tinkling glass
and silverware distracting
six-year old fears over river water
running silent beneath a bridge
history left behind.

I listened and heard
sounds of herb and brimstone
drawers pulled open, shut closed
by a pharmacy man replaced
by a soda jerk who needed not
Indigo, Insect PO or Magnus Sulph
drawers and cabinets empty
of a mission for saving.

I listened and heard
the sunrise waking
meeting its smile
up in a tree, leading
me to sunflowers
leaning close to hear
the sun’s unrelenting
encouragement to
grow.

I listened and heard
too late to the lime lights
whispering danger
its leaves hiding
saddleback stings,
my own cries
filling my ears.

I listened and heard
stairwells creaking
message to climb high
to look down
and the limestone walls
telling stories
of the easy and hard ways
to enter into the community
of believers long gone to sleep.

I listened and heard
acorns fall with the shake
of a wind, an egg crack
and sizzle in an olive oil
heat, a house cat’s paws
pad across the porch,
and contented silence
of a child lost in
the delicious
of a cinnamon roll.

I listened and heard
a man martyred
and faith emerging
from hiding places
because he dared defend
faith and liberty, and in daring
show a people saved by Jesus
how to stand in freedom’s light
and boast of their good God.
The streets filled with
the found, reaching out
to save the lost children
of The King
and they worshipped
in town squares and stadiums,
calling out,
“Holy, Holy are you Lord, Jesus
now and forever.”

“Just as our love for God begins with listening to God’s word,
the beginning of love for other Christians
is learning to listen to them.”
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Remember Me Monday: #148 Link-up

“I’ll make a list of God’s gracious dealings,
    all the things God has done that need praising,
All the generous bounties of God,
    his great goodness to the family of Israel—
Compassion lavished,
.    love extravagant.”
~ Isaiah 63:7, The Message

In the Old Testament, God repeatedly, quietly and loudly, tells his children, “You have forgotten me!”  (Jeremiah 3:32, Ezekiel 22:12, to name a few). It’s a heart cry from a father to a child who has forgotten all the love, all the saving, helping, little and big blessings – and it leaves me stunned when I realize our Father, the creator of the universe, who knows things I cannot begin to fathom, who authors storylines that leave me amazed, delights in all of us so much, He cries out, “Remember Me.”

While every day is a Remember God Day, I am inviting you to join me on Monday mornings to come by and remember what God has done for you, for your family. Maybe God sent a cardinal darting out in front of you, as if to tell you, “I’m here,” or broke a child’s fever after you laid it all down at His feet in a 2 a.m. bedside vigil. Maybe He stood with you in the wait of a prayer sent out, or brought someone you loved to Christ. Maybe He healed your broken heart, gave your courage, or you gave Him your dreams as a love offering only to have Him give them back in an unimaginable way. Maybe God helped you survive to bedtime after a crazy Monday, or forgive yourself for missing it with your kiddos –– Whatever it is, let’s Remember Him. . . in a “Remember Me Monday” love letter.

“My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
Of your salvation all the day long,
Though I know not its measure.
I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord”
~ Psalm 71:15-16.

Let us delight in Him by telling the  stories of what He’s done!  If you wrote a blog post remembering what He’s done for you, join the linky. If you didn’t but still want to praise Him for what He’s done – write it in the comment section. Then visit a comment before or after yours! One of the beautiful things about the blogging community is the relationships it builds!

Rules?  Write long or short, a list or a story, include photos or not. Just Remember Him and what He has done, and let the gratitude of your heart guide you. Let’s make Monday so Rejoice, that the goodness of God spills into the rest of the week! (Link opens Mondays at 6 a.m.)

Places I’m Linking at This Week:
  Instaencouragements, Legacy Link-Up, 
Let’s Have Coffee Wednesday 
Recharge Wednesday, Scripture & a Snapshot
Grace&Truth, Sweet Tea & Friends
The Good, The Random, The Fun