Having a listening heart

We spent the morning at our Titus playgroup. There were a lot of moms that came today. I saw several faces that were familiar and got to chat with a few. Julian liked exploring the fire truck tent someone brought. He'd wander off to play and then come back to get me. He'd say "come here mommy" and pull me by the hand so I'd go play with him. When we got home he wanted to play outside and since this could be the last snow of the season (we got enough to cover the ground) we tromped through the snow and played for a while. I was rushed to get his lunch and eat mine before my women's bible study but made it on time. One thing I took away from the study was having a listening heart. We were discussing Martha and Mary and they described Mary's focus on Jesus as having a listening heart. This was good. It helps to think about spending time reading the word or in times of prayer paying special attention to what the Lord is saying.

When I got back from the study, Julian was in a great mood. It turns out he and my babysitter were having a ball playing hide and seek. He doesn't do the seeking part very well, but loves to hide and then have you jump out at him. He laughs like crazy. He was also asking to be tickled. He laid down on the floor like a dog and I didn't know what he was doing, but then he asked me to tickle him. Most kids do their best to get away from being tickled, but he loves it. It was fun.

In my devotional time, I'm on the second to last chapter in my book Having a Heart Like His by Beth Moore which is all about David and his relationship with God. Today in 1 Chronicles 28 the idea is engaging in and completing the work God has prepared for us, just as David prepared for Solomon everything needed to build the temple. He heard from God that the task itself was to be completed by Solomon, but all preparations were made by David. In 1 Chronicles 22:19 David says to Solomon and his people, "Devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord." Beth encourages us to examine ourselves asking what it is that our heart desires and is focused on. Just as the verse Matthew 6:21 says where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. It's about being honest with ourselves to keep us from drifting away from the Lord and keeping our hearts turned towards him. That can be hard at times. Sometimes it's hard to change our hearts, but we can give permission for the Lord to come in and change it.

Julian had a weird nap this afternoon. He woke up after only sleeping for an hour and was sitting up crying in his crib. He was really hard to console and I couldn't figure out why he was crying so I just wrapped him in a blanket and rocked him and comforted him. What was so sweet is that he ended up falling asleep right in my arms. He's not done this too many times since he was a baby. He went back to sleep for a bit then woke up crying again. We came downstairs and I had to hold him to settle him again. I think he was overtired since he really enjoys his nap in the morning and didn't have one.

Daddy and I read him some books and then we had bath time. I found a great learning toy which are bath letters. It includes the whole alphabet and they stick to the side of the tub. Another way to learn the alphabet and have fun too. While brushing Julian's teeth, he started saying names of animals and making their sounds like lion-roar, monkey-ooh ooh, etc. all the while watching himself in the mirror with a big grin on his face. It was a nice way to wrap up our day.