Nice to Know

There are times when I am truly amazed at the freshness of the Word.  At this point in my life, being surprised is not something which should surprise me.  It has happened enough that the surprise dimension of the Word should be a normal expectation.  I have often given witness to a time after retirement when the Lord spoke to me while I was on my knees pulling weeds in the garden.  Deep from within me came two words which I heard then and have since that day believed to be the voice of the Lord speaking to me.  "Pay Attention," is what He told me.    

It was a moment which made such an impression on me that it has become my post retirement spiritual mantra.  I have a gift mug on my desk with those words printed on its side in big bold black letters.  I know that the word, "mantra" comes from Hinduism and Buddhism, but it is a word which works for me to speak of a personal embracing of what I have come to know as a powerful spiritual word which is never far from my conscious thoughts.  So, what has all this to do with being surprised by the Word of God.  Today after all these years, I saw external validation of the Word received in the garden years ago.  Interestingly enough it was a Word spoken by Jesus after He told the parable of the sower.  It might also be regarded as a parable from a garden.  This Word which I call external validation of that Word I heard in my garden comes from Mark 4:24 where it says, "And He (Jesus) said to them, 'Pay attention to what you hear..."   

It reminds me of a scene in "Fiddler on the Roof" where Tevye ask Golde, his wife, if she loves him.  Until that moment it is not something they have discussed, but in this scene they acknowledge that they love one another and sing together, "It doesn't change a thing, but even so after twenty five years, it is nice to know."  What I read today in the gospel of Mark does not change a thing about how I feel about the Word spoken in the garden, but it is nice to see it in print in words attributed to Jesus.