“Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. Then He added, “Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given – and you will receive even more. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.” (Mark 4:23-25)
Jesus’ instruction to his disciples to pay attention reminds me of an episode I had with my dog several years ago. Our newly adopted dog loved going for walks in the woods with my wife and I. The trails we frequented were very private, so we let the dog accompany us without a leash. At first our Border Collie, named Madison, would stay near us; but not long into each walk she would race well ahead of us - well beyond eyesight and earshot. The woods were large with many winding and intersecting trails. Her unfamiliarity with it all could have gotten her hopelessly lost or hurt. A nice quiet stroll through the woods was often interrupted with my shouts and whistles for the dog to come back. More often than not, I would find her before she would find me. We wanted the dog to enjoy the great outdoors, but her pattern of running ahead and getting lost needed to be broken.
I spoke with the dog trainer who had previously been very helpful in explaining the nuances of the breed to me. He explained that Border Collies work off of both visual and voice commands, and that I needed to work on getting and keeping the dog’s attention by using both. He suggested that before the dog dashed off out of eyesight and earshot, that I should abruptly change direction and announce in a normal volume and tone what direction I would be walking. He assured me that after practicing this method the dog’s range would tighten and her attentiveness would increase.
The first few times I tried this, it had become obvious that the dog was assuming where I would be headed based on what seemed to be a pattern of mine. I would walk out to the usual starting trail and then to the next, and so on, just like I had done many times before. My walk was predictable – dog predictable. The dog had become attentive to my pattern rather than being attentive to my hand and voice commands. In time, the method of abruptly changing directions in combination with the voice commands began to pay off. The dog started to stay in close proximity and began to look more frequently for commands from me. We both enjoyed the walks much more.
In those times that I was actively working on changing my dog’s inattentiveness, I began recognizing that I had behaved in a similar way with God. I noticed there were some seasons in my life where I had made assumptions about where God was headed based on where I had been with Him previously. I had not been paying close attention to Him; I had not been paying any attention to Him at all. I had been doing God-work, only God didn’t direct me to do any of it. I assumed that was what He wanted me to do; but in my “walk” with God, He abruptly changed directions.
God took what seemed to be a hard right turn, and as a result it became obvious to me that I had not been paying close attention to Him. Those were dark, pain-filled, and confusing seasons, but out of them I began to see He wanted me to pay attention - close attention - to Him. I was not supposed to extrapolate a pattern based on where He and I had been, and I was certainly not to head out on my own based on where I assumed we might be headed. It is a bad pattern that God is breaking in my life. He wants to have enjoyable walks with me. He wants to have enjoyable walks with you too.
Grace to you.
Dave Paukner
