Do you whistle while you pray?

The minister is praying, leading the worshippers to ask God to supply their every need. All is quiet in the worship service.

All of a sudden there’s this loud, shrill whistle from one of the back pews. Everyone’s head jerks up and looks back as the whistle goes on and on.

Little Johnny’s mother is mortified. She pinches him until he stops.

All red-faced, she jerks him up out of the pew and marches him outside. “Johnny,” she says, “why in the world did you do that?”

And Johnny rather sheepishly says, “Well, I was praying and I asked God to teach me to whistle…and He did!”

Like Johnny, do you expect God to answer your prayer as you’re praying? Or, do you just sit there waiting for something to happen, but only half-heartedly expecting it?

One of the key ingredients to listening to life is puckering up while praying to whistle; expecting God to do something miraculous and listening for it! So as you pray today, whistle while you pray and you’ll make a life, not just a living.

Life changes, doesn't it?

A passenger in a taxi tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him something. The driver screamed, lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, drove up over the curb and stopped just inches from a large plate glass window.

For a few minutes, nobody said anything in the cab. Then the driver said, “Please don’t ever do that again. You scared me.”

The passenger said, “I didn’t realize that a tap on the shoulder would frighten you so much.”
And the driver said, “I’m sorry. It’s really not your fault. Today is my first day driving a cab. For the last twenty-five years, I’ve driven a hearse.”

Life changes for us, doesn’t it? And sometimes, like this driver, we don’t change with it. We carry over our previous patterns, expecting them to work, and they don’t. So we wreck our lives, not updating our driving habits for today’s life highway.

To cope with all of the change around you, and to have the courage to change with it, exchange your ways for God’s ways as you listen to life and make a life.

Do you have wandering eyes?

You’re sitting in a restaurant in an end-of-the-aisle booth. Your back is to the front of the establishment. The person sitting across from you has a view of the dining room. You have only the person in front of you to look at; there’s even a large petition behind her, separating you from the kitchen.

You’re enjoying your conversation with your friend, but occasionally her eyes dart off to the side and she looks with anticipation at some person moving to a table. You see the anticipation as one of those 

“Do I know this person?” looks. 

“No problem,” you think.

But then it happens again. And again. And again. And pretty soon you find yourself leaning out into the aisle just to catch your friend’s eyes.

Do you think your friend’s glad to be with you? And really enjoying your conversation?

Probably not. So the next time you’re with someone, listen with your eyes. And the next time you’re praying, listen to God with your eyes and make a life, not just a living.