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“Consider carefully what you hear.” Mark 4:24a (NIV)

The Bible spurs us about listening wisely. When Jesus taught the disciples and spoke in parables, He oftentimes ended with the phrase, “He who has ears, let him hear.” The importance of listening well is taught to us so that we don’t fall in the trap of misinterpreting what we hear or getting confused about what we hear.

I love children. As a matter of fact, I find it fascinating to watch children play together – or alone – as one can learn much from their behavior. I am the vovó (grandmother in Portuguese) of soon-to-be ten boys (unless number 10 is a girl), and I absolutely love to visit and spend time with them in their familiar surroundings, as I don’t live near all of them. I currently have grandchildren living in Buffalo, NY, and Tucson, AZ.

I also have three grandsons who live in Indiana, with whom I get to do fun things together, such as going swimming at the pool in my apartment complex.

A couple months ago, while at the pool with the boys, Nio, the youngest of the three, came to me crying with a scraped knee.  He wanted me to punish his oldest brother, Jayden, saying Jayden had pushed him, culminating with him getting himself hurt. Since that is not common Jayden-behavior, I called him over to my chair and asked him what was going on, and he acted surprised. I showed him Nio’s knee bleeding and asked if he knew anything about that. According to Jayden, he was trying to get back in the pool and Nio was grabbing him, so he pushed him away and jumped in the water.

You see, Nio never told me he had been horse playing with Jayden and that he was trying to prevent his brother from getting in the water, thus getting hurt. When I looked at Nio and said, “Nio, did you grab Jayden?” he started laughing. Guilty as charged!! Had I not confirmed with the source – or accused – if the story was correct as told to me, I would have punished the accused without justice. Injustice is not just unjust but also unfair. When in doubt, check it out!

“Father, help us to be fair and just when having to make a decision.”

For His Glory

Luska Natali
TRBC Women’s Life