“Ears that hear and eyes that see – the Lord has made them both.” – Proverbs 20:12
Given that one of our sons loves to fish (fly-fishing especially) and also happens to be the father of two little girls, my wife Tee thought I would appreciate the following story she read recently. Perhaps you will too.
“For weeks eight-year-old Susie had been looking forward to a particular Saturday fishing trip with her dad. But when the day finally arrived, it was raining heavily. Susie wandered around the house all morning grumbling as she peered out the windows, ‘Seems like the Lord would know it would have been better to have the rain yesterday than today.’ Her father tried to explain how important the rain was to the farmers and gardeners. But Susie only replied, ‘It just isn’t fair.’ Around three o’clock the rain stopped. There was still time for fishing, so father and daughter quickly loaded their gear and headed for the lake. Because of the rainstorm the fish were really biting. Within a couple of hours they returned with a full stringer of fish. At the family’s fish dinner that night Susie asked to say grace. She concluded her prayer by saying, ‘And Lord, if I sounded grumpy earlier today, it was because I couldn’t see far enough ahead.” (God’s Little Devotional Book for Women)
Unlike eight-year-old Susie most of realize that God did not send the rainstorm with the intention of upsetting Susie’s plans with her dad, nor was its primary purpose to entice the fish to bite in the aftermath. We all know that rain is simply an act of nature resulting from certain atmospheric conditions. But how very much like Susie we often are in our failure to “see far enough ahead”. Is it because we are deaf and blind? Or could it be because we fail to pause long enough to put aside our selfish desires in order to look and listen for what might be ahead.
The words from the writer of Proverbs should give us a clue. “Ears that hear and eyes that see – the Lord has made them both.” But it is up to us to put them to use – to look and to listen.