Distorted Hearing

Proverbs 12:1 – Those who love discipline love knowledge and those who hate correction are stupid

I think back to my youth, well actually mid-to-late teens.  I’ll tell you what, I am shocked I didn’t win the Nobel Prize in each category yearly.  I knew that much – or at least I thought I did.

After dad passed, I grew up quickly and in my mind, I was much more mature and had a great deal more knowledge than what my mom gave me credit.  She would make suggestions on a course I should take, and I’d puff up and tell her (in no uncertain terms) that I knew exactly what I was doing and would proceed down that road only to find potholes and umm… dead ends.  I sure did make some really stupid mistakes. Sadly, I find myself even today doing the same thing – maybe not to the extent I did back then, but on occasion, my pride gets in the way of my hearing.

Now, I don’t think I am the first teenager to go through this, nor do I think I’ll be the last.  Further, I suspect that I’m not the only one who still experiences pride-distorted hearing.  The thing is, if we close ourselves off to suggestions and corrections of others, we are in no way showing His love and openness to one another.  This goes further though – if we close ourselves off, we may very well be closing ourselves off to the very voice of God speaking through others.

It can be a difficult thing to let go of our pride and admit we may be wrong, but the other options seem to be more difficult to accept.  “Father, remove my pride and allow me to hear others, allow me to hear You. Amen”