Calling from the other room...

I don't know if your house is like mine, but I've got this one pet peeve that I get pretty riled about ~ yelling across the house. I don't care if it is Telly or the kids or if they are calling for me or each other, I just cannot stand people yelling across the house. Even moreso if it is the typical, honey do or daddy do that is drawing me away from what I am already fully engaged in ~ which is usually the TV or facebook.

<<Even now I interrupt this note for a call from the other room to pop someone's back... Dr. Mike home-based chiropractor will return!>>

But isn't this really the way of it. I am busy in my own action, my own purpose, my own 'calling' arising from my desires. I do not want to be interrupted from that. Often I ignore my wife or children (I admit it!), but they are persistent ~ especially when it is really important, at least to them anyway. If my wife doesn't get my attention at first, she calls again louder and then LOUDER. Then if I've still sustained my left ear deafness under the TV tones, she will make her way from where she is to the living room and poke her head in... Gently the first time 'hello, dear..."

If you know us well, you know everyone in my house has a very strong personality - so as strong as Telly is or the children act, I am often moreso - generally to prove that very point. So when I persist in ignoring them, they grow stronger in their insistence that they will be paid attention to. Imagine the small child standing in front of the TV or even daring to turn it off, so many potential reactions of which none are good. Or even my wife, standing directly in front of me leaning over the computer saying 'HEY, I'M TALKING TO YOU, ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION.' Sounds pretty frustrating doesn't it.

Consider that this is the problem we present to God every single moment. We are engaged in our own activity, our way of doing things, our program and practice. We will not be interrupted in that, so much so that we miss it when He calls from the other room. If it is something simple, maybe He shrugs and says ah well, I'll leave Mike alone on this one. [Do you really picture God doing this, yeah me either?] But if I am engaged in something that can harm me or others OR He wants my attention for something very specific ~ be prepared... He will surely not be ignored. If that means the TV will be turned off then so be it... if it means my feelings might get hurt because something I'm working so hard on might be laid aside, well then~ then lay it aside.

God is calling to us, wanting us to leave what we are doing and take part in what He is doing, are we paying attention? How long will we ignore His call for our own desires and toward our own frustration?