"Mom, you don't listen very well"

I have had to evaluate my listening skills recently.  My 11-year old daughter was frustrated with me one day after school.  She told me I don’t listen very well.  She said that there have been times when she is telling me something and I will take a phone call or talk to one of the other kids.  She was absolutely right. 

Just a few months before this conversation she needed me to pull her loose tooth.  I took a small piece of tissue and grabbed the tooth.  I tugged and tugged, but it wouldn’t come – the tooth needed a little more time.  Before long, she was back asking for me to try again because the tooth was bothering her so much.  I was committed to pulling that tooth.  I tried three times and finally, it popped out, but I really had to get under that tooth!  She went to the bathroom to rinse her mouth and I heard her yell, “Mom!  You pulled the wrong tooth!”  I told her I knew she was joking around.  She replied, “No, you really pulled the wrong tooth!”  I looked.  Sure enough, I saw the tooth I was supposed to pull, dangling by a thread.  I pulled it too as I heard my husband say from the other room, “Please tell me that was a baby tooth.” 

I had definitely not been listening.

We have laughed about that since then and I have been better about listening  I don’t want her to feel unimportant because I am not listening.  When she wants to talk, even if it is not at a convenient time, I listen. 

I realized there was another “listening” skill I wasn’t very good at.  When I prayed, I would ask Heavenly Father for his help and for his advice on specific things.  I would end my prayer and then hop up and walk out of the room, never giving Him a chance to respond.  I wasn’t listening!  Now, when my prayer ends, in the quiet of my room, I stay on my knees and listen. 

And He speaks to me. 

At first I wasn’t sure if it was just my imagination or my own thoughts, but the more I have trusted the whisperings that come into my mind the more I know it is Him.  Those quiet messages have brought peace, answers and guidance. 

I know He hears me – I want to make sure I do the same.