"Constantly talking is not necessarily communicating."
That is a line Jim Carrey's character says in The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. (Sidenote: I just finished that movie for a second time and really enjoy it)
Thinking about what that line means reminded me of the quote from Cool Hand Luke that I used for the title of this post.
How often do we find ourselves in deep--way deeper than things ever needed to go, purely from a lack of communication?
Misunderstandings... miscommunications... mistakes...
I also thought about the first quote in terms of God. Do my prayers and thoughts to Him just end up being a constant flow from my mouth and mind? Am I spewing a lexical shield around myself that perpetually grows and insulates me from actually hearing a little bit of what God is responding?
I hope I am not. I hope I have been taking time to listen. I hope I would know how to communicate with my Father. And I know I must do my best to just shut up sometimes and be aware of Him and the powerful Word that comes out of His mouth.
I will end this post here for now. Just think about your own life… your thoughts and prayers to God. Are you listening? Are you hearing? Is there communication?
Certainly something to think about. I have been to prayer meetings where folks just prayed w/o even a pause. Just the constant flow of talking to God.
ReplyDeleteIt's not much conversation if only one person is talking. Seems that pentecostals in particular are a bit shy of periods of silence. It is only when I close my mouth that I can truly give undivided attention to what another is speaking. Why do we expect to hear from God if we never shut up?