I have always been kind of dense, slow to understand. I have eyes but do not see. I have ears but do not hear. And as I advance in years, I feel it getting worse.
I have often hurt people with my words and actions without even realizing it. People have cried out to me for help but I was deaf to their cries. In fairness, I have done some things that have been deeply appreciated by others but I did not even realize I was doing them. I need to be told several times and pause and think before I can fully understand.
It is in prayer, in the quiet and the silence, that I come to understand and see the many things I miss in the hustle and bustle of daily living. Without this daily moment of solitude, I would be totally confused and utterly lost.
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
~ Psalm 29
The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.”
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
“Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?”
They answered him, “Twelve.”
“When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?”
They answered him, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
Mark 8:14-21
