Lip Service...

Don’t you hate when you are having a conversation with someone whether on the phone or in person and they show you with their responses that they weren’t paying attention? This drives me crazy!!!! And my own mother does this to me on a regular basis when we are talking on the phone (ok mom give me a head start before you get me!). When she is watching her programs like: Press Your Luck, The Golden Girls, Seinfeld, or even Lingo, my mom half listens and her responses match the attention she is paying me. LOL, I often ask, “Mom are you listening.” She typically responds, “Oh yeah I heard you. “ We both know that isn’t true based on her answers sometimes. I could be talking about how cold it was outside and she’ll say something about she saw the dog down the street. Clearly we are two separate pages here.

Now usually I don’t take this to heart because it is my mom and she knows when I need her in reality. But all the same, sometimes if you just wanted that person to really be there at that moment when they are watching their favorite program or “zoned out” it can be a bit hurtful and you will walk away feeling neglected...so I ask you today, did you just provide lip service today? This lip service could be just saying a short prayer with no regard to what God wants to say back to you in return. Yelling at your kids or calling their names in the middle of a conversation. Half-listening to someone and applying the appropriate, uh-huhs and okays just to make it seem like you were fully attentive. Or what about visiting a website to play a game while at work and launch the decoy excel sheet to throw your boss off the non-working trail?

If you take a call today, are clocked in at the office, or doing another task that requires your full attention, focus on having your mouth and your heart all in. Be willing to listen and commit to the task at hand, because remember you will be on the receiving end at one time or another and you don’t want to feel like your needs aren’t being met. My challenge to you today is to review some of the things that that required your attention during the week and see how you handled it. You might be surprised of what you discover about yourself.

For further reading, check out:

Isaiah 29:13

Ephesians 6:6-8