learning to listen...

there was a precious boy in my class this past week (actually there were about 14 precious boys), but one that touched my heart just a bit more than the others. i will call him joey.

joey is hearing impaired.  he wears hearing aids in both ears and i wore a "assistance device" called a phonak like this:

{it hooks on my pants pocket and the microphone clipped to my sweater}

joey's dad picked him up the other afternoon and i was chatting with him.  he was explaining joey can hear me without the device, but it helps amplify the higher pitched frequencies and "drowns" out the unnecessary background noise.  he went on to explain shortly after joey was born, the doctors realized he has some hearing deficits and was fitted with aids right away.  for the first couple of years joey didn't wear them as it was a fight each morning to get them in his ears...can't imagine trying to get my jeremiah to wear hearing aids at two-i could barely get his clothes on him & shoes were optional many days!  as joey got older it became less challenging and the more joey wore the aids the more he realized he was missing certain sounds.  he now eagerly wears the devices so he doesn't miss a sound.  dad went on to say joey is delayed in his hearing and speech because so much of his world was quiet for the first couple of years.  he lacked the exposure to the sounds of the world.  now that joey wears the devices all the time, he is quickly catching up to hearing and pronouncing the sounds he had missed.  he also said, joey will probably not need the hearing aids as an adult, as he will be "trained" to hear and speak the sounds. 

last night after jeremiah was tucked into bed, i began to think again about joey and his "ears".  it reminded me of a verse in 1 Corinthians 13..."when i was a child, i talked like a child, i thought like a child, i reasoned like a child.  when i became a man, i put my childish ways behind me".  joey will become a man and put his "childish" hearing devices behind him.  i then began to wonder about the childish devices i still depend upon even though i am an adult.  i follow Christ-trusting and believing He has a perfect plan for me and my family...but i often can only hear my voice or the noise of the the world and am unable to hear the "higher frequency" of God's discerning voice.  i am easily distracted and unable to drown out the worldly chatter.  i wonder if i could get some hearing aids like joey's and have God wear a phonak so i can hear him better...then i realize i do have a hearing aid.  it is the Bible.  and God does have a phonak.  it is prayer time.  what worldly chatter is distracting you from the higher frequency voice of out loving Father?

off to hike a mountain...iron mountain.  photos later!