There was a woman who went out walking

She loved to do some stalking

She might have got nearer

And seen much clearer

If only she had just shut up talking. 

I have an email friend who lives in Plymouth. We met up some years ago on the Saga Zone website although, alas, the company had so much aggravation trying to monitor and censor the trolls that they closed it down rather than compromise the brand name. Both she and I frequented the writer’s thread which included a section for limerick contribution which we both enjoyed. When the Baptist Assembly was held in Plymouth (in the days when it spanned four days) I attended and during the time I was there I was able to meet up with Rosy and her husband. We had a lovely meeting and it was as if we had known each other a long time. We corresponded by email outside of the Zone, something which we have continued to do regularly. Not long ago we decided it would be good to send each other a limerick each day; she and her husband are awaiting different medical procedures and we thought it would give us both a bit of fun.

The limerick above is one that I sent to her some days ago and when I re-read it the word ‘nearer’ brought to mind one of my many much loved hymns and that is Nearer my God to Thee. In fact, the more I thought about it the more I thought about how people need to nuture their relationship with God. Certainly the aim should be grow closer nearer to Him but I did wonder if sometimes we do too much talking and not enough listening to Him. What are our prayers like? Are they mainly requests, or lists of concerns? Perhaps we often pray for guidance or wisdom, but maybe we don’t  spend time quietly listening to Him or waiting patiently for His answer. We can be prone to ask and think the job done and we go off and do what we what to do without anything we can identify as answer received. So, here it comes; let’s just once in a while stop talking and do a little listening.

Pam