Quotes about Attention

Son, if you think about, read about, and talk about demons, they will show up.

Rob's story reminds me that how we listen is sometimes (always?) more important than what is said. Maybe that's why Jesus was forever asking people if they had ears to hear what he was saying. And I suspect it's also why the very first word of the great Benedictine Rule, which has guided monastic communities for 1,500 years, is this one little word: listen. Fifteen centuries of successful community built on the power of mere listening.

God saw the Israelites and took notice.

Make the work harder on the men so they will be occupied and pay no attention to these lies.”

saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”

Pay close attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.

Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him.

It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.

be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances that I am setting before you today.

with these orders: “Pay attention. You are to lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it. All of you must be ready.

My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

Midday passed, and they kept on raving until the time of the evening sacrifice. But there was no response; no one answered, no one paid attention.