Listening

This morning while I was walking on my way to work, I saw several kids lighting firecrackers with their bare hands oblivious to the thought of possibly losing their fingers hands. Seeing the scene made me reminisce. Back when we were kids and firecrackers during the holiday was a treat, our dad would always give us long sticks with "katol" on the end to light the firecrackers. This came with dad's strong and loud voice telling us never to touch the firecracker that we are lighting specially when it did not pop. There were other kids who would laugh at us because we looked so stupid holding the stick, standing far from the firecracker. A few would even tell us we're sissies. We didn't mind because we were enjoying anyway. Besides, we told ourselves we were lucky that we were not one of those kids you see in the news with their hands blown off. As that scenario ran through my mind, God impressed a lesson in my heart. Because we listened to my dad about the fireworks, we were not harmed in any way. We had fun with the fireworks even though we looked stupid in other people's eyes and laughed at us. Had we not listened to my dad, had we not trusted his wisdom, had we not obeyed him, who knows how many fingers we have left today or if we even have a pair of hands for that matter. It's just like listening to our Heavenly Father, when God asks us to do something, (or not to do something) more often than not, it's something that will make people laugh at us and sneer at us (because they do not understand), but when we listen ,trust and obey God, He will never put us in any harm because God knows what is best for us. If we continue to listen to His voice He will lead us in the right path -- in His path. "Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path." Proverbs 23:19 (New International Version)