Ears to hear

This morning I was reading a series of parables taught by Jesus, and I
was struck by how often Jesus said, "He who has ears, let him hear,"
and "Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they
hear." Everyone Jesus talked to had ears and eyes, but not everyone heard
what Jesus said. Some were paying attention of other voices. Jesus was speaking
to those who were spiritually tuned in, or as we used to say in CB radio days,
"People who had their ears on." Lots of people heard Jesus, but fewer
listened to him, and fewer still let him speak directly into their life. They
are the ones Jesus blessed.

l woke up early this morning, at 5:40 AM, to get ready for my men's
class, and the song lyric running through my head as I got out of bed was,
"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see,” from
Strawberry Fields Forever by John
Lennon. John was correct. It’s a lot
easier to stumble through life not seeing the world and people around us; it
was easier for the crowd to hang around Jesus if they kept their ears and eyes
closed. Easier, but they missed the encounter with the Son of God. They
misunderstood what they saw, thinking he was merely a miracle-working holy man,
missing the Savior of the World.

The reason I was singing Strawberry
Fields in my head first thing this morning was, well, I’m singing one song or
another in my head almost all the time, and quite often the song is my first
thought in the morning, but I was singing John
Lennon in my head because I have been watching a movie this week called Across
The Universe. My son, Byron, bought the movie for me a year ago, and he asked
if I'd watched it whenever we talked. I finally watched it this week. It’s a musical based on songs by The Beatles
and set in New York City
in the late I960s. It has been playing inside my head all week.

I found myself walking down the sidewalk listening to the guitar riff
from Come Together. And then I drove by Cyndi’s school say hello and to flirt
with her, and in my head I was singing, "Dear Prudence, won’t you come out
and play.”

Then I was working on some writing and in my head I heard, "There
is nothing you can do that can't be done, nothing you can say that can it be
sung, there is nothing you can know that isn't known, nothing you can see that
isn’t shown." I don’t know whether those lyrics helped or hurt the writing
process, but they wouldn’t go away, and I didn’t really mind.

There are some movies that I can
watch and enjoy and appreciate before filing them away in my memory for future
reference. Other movies simply take over my life for a few days. I’ve learned
not to fight the take-over, but to wallow in it. I’ll watch a particular movie
several times and let it sink in. Most of the time I'm not even sure which
images affect me; I just know I need to linger in the experience.

This week I was also listening to an audio
book titled, "My Revolutions," by Hari Kunzru. It was about a 1960s
radical-turned-terrorist, living quietly under a new name with a family that
didn't know his history, who finds his past catching up with him. Reading (or listening to)
that book, and watching the movie, put my brain firmly into the late I960s all
week.

In real time I was too young to understand the I960s. I was too young
to appreciate The Beatles until I was in college, long after they had broken
up. I was too young to be a hippie; in fact, I'm not sure we actually had any
hippies in Kermit, Texas. I did grow my hair out in the I970s,
but I was never a hippie. And I certainly never lived like the characters in
the movie or the book. Yet, I couldn’t shake them off.

So thinking about what Jesus said, one reason I read my Bible is to
keep my eyes and ears open. I want the words and character of God to haunt me
though the rest of the day in the same way that movie did. Even if I don't have
a specific verse in mind or a point to ponder, I know if I just read and wallow
in it, it will make me a better man. I don't want to misunderstand what I see. I
don't want to live an easy life with my eyes closed. I want to live with open
eyes and open ears. I want
to be blessed.

“I run in the path of Your
commands, for You have set my heart free.” Psalm 119:32

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With God,” go to:

http://journalentries.typepad.com/journal-entries/running-with-god.html

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