"Have I been with you for so long a time and still you do not know me, Philip? Jn 14:9
Sometimes it is amazing to acknowledge how little we know about ourselves and others with whom we live even after many years together. In part, this is a result of the culture of individualism and privacy that so pervades U.S. culture, but it is more than that. Too often, busy about so many things, we fail to spend time, even waste time, with ourselves, our families and God.
Being with others is rarely revealing all at once. Only time spent listening to others with our hearts over the course of many years affords us real knowledge of the other. Learning to waste time with God and others each day, despite its frustrations, will allow us to know and love God and the people with whom we live more deeply. More important, it affords God the opportunity to tell us more about God.
It is a small, but significant, comfort to know that even the apostles suffered from spiritual “blindness" and "deafness.” Philip does not know the Lord after years spent with him, but perhaps after the Lord’s correction, Philip will listen more to Jesus’ teaching about who is and from whom he comes.
Today, take five minutes to be quiet. Do not worry about distractions.
Who most impresses you with their ability to be quiet and listen?
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