Scott went to Seattle for a couple of days this week for a work conference. I was happy he got to stop in and have dinner with my family a couple of times.
While he was gone, the kids asked if we could eat out one night. We don't eat out regularly, maybe once a month, sometimes less, sometimes more; but usually it's for some sort of special occasion.
I felt like we needed something to break up our evening since Scott wouldn't be coming home from work, so I agreed. They decided on Arctic Circle which is a fast food place close by that has an indoor play area. I didn't want to eat that so I picked up an avocado veggie sandwich from Kneaders instead. Prior to us leaving the house, the kids were really bugging each other which was irritating me. I warned them that if they kept it up we might not go inside Arctic Circle and play, but just take our food home and eat it. There was some improvement, but they weren't perfect. So while we drove to Kneaders and then to Arctic Circle, the three oldest asked, "Can we go inside Mom? Please!" "I don't know yet," was my response.
Annabelle proceeded to ask this question over and over again. As soon as I would respond she'd ask again. It got a little annoying. It got to the point where I stopped responding. This bothered her but she continued to ask, even without a response. Finally she stopped and said, "Mom! Why aren't you listening to me?!" From the way back of the van, Charlie answered, "Annabelle, Mom is listening to you. Don't you know she always listens. Just because you can't hear her doesn't mean she's not listening. She will answer in awhile."
For some reason Charlie's words seemed profound to me. It made me think of our Heavenly Father. He always listens. He always hears our prayers. Sometimes he'll give us an answer we're not satisfied with so we just keep on asking, like Annabelle did.
This reminds me of the story of Joseph Smith. His good friend and scribe, Martin Harris, wanted permission to show the manuscript(they were translating the Book of Mormon from the golden plates) to his wife so she would believe what kind of work they were about(translating). Joseph Smith prayed and the answer was, 'no'. Martin Harris was such a good friend and Joseph really wanted to help him and I'm sure felt some pressure from his friend. He asked three times, and finally the last time, he received a different response...but I think it was because the Lord wanted to teach Joseph a lesson on obedience. Joseph did lend the 116 pages of the manuscript to Martin Harris, who showed them to his wife, and this particular section of the manuscript was then stolen. Joseph wasn't to translate them again. Joseph learned his lesson and was very sorrowful.
Even though Charlie says I always listen, I don't think that's true. Sometimes I get so distracted, I'm not really paying attention to what they're saying. But that statement is true when referring to Heavenly Father. I'm grateful we have Him for a perfect example. I know the Lord always listens and answers our prayers. Sometimes we have to wait for an answer and sometimes it's not the answer we'd hoped for, but an answer will come. Waiting, listening and following isn't just a hard concept for kids, but for adults also. I know I've got a lot of room for improvement in my life.
