“Write down ‘rubber bands.’”                                                                                                “Too late now.”

“This Ziploc is too small.”

“Something else is on my list.”

“What is wrong with  me?

“Where are those keys?”

“Should have thought about this before.”

“Start calling your friends before you don’t have any.”

To most people, this looks like a conversation I might start with Dave.  In a way, it is, because to him, when he “hears” me, he assumes I am mumbling or not speaking audibly.  If it were that simple! In actuality, it is an ongoing conversation I have with myself.  Yes, that’s right.  I am talking to myself.

The frequency of this annoyance is increasing.  In the grocery store the other day, while trying to decide which cantaloupe to select, a lady nearby said “Pardon?” after I reminded myself out loud that smelling it might freak out an onlooker.  This is becoming a problem.

Instead of talking to myself, I need to be talking to God.  At a Bible study this past week, the leader pointed out something I’ve never considered (not out loud or to myself).  When Jesus sought solitude to pray to God the night before he was arrested, according to John MacArthur in his book Twelve Ordinary Men, the English language does not do justice to what happened that night.

We read that Jesus “continued all night in prayer to God,” but in Greek it means that he spent the whole night in the prayer of God. “The members of the Trinity were communing with one another.”

MacArthur continues.  “His (Jesus’) prayers were all perfectly consistent with the mind and the will of God—for He Himself is God.”  How does that happen?  Was Jesus talking to Himself? (Alas, something we have in common.)

The author continues.  “Jesus in His humanity needed to pray all night, and Jesus in His deity was praying the very prayer of God.”  Have you ever considered that?  Somewhere in that mix was the Holy Spirit, the third part of the trinity, engaged in this shared time spent in the garden.

Can you imagine being able to ask yourself for whatever you want? What would you request?  A new truck?  A favorable diagnosis?  A dream vacation?  A day without the kids squabbling? If you were Jesus, probably not on his list.  He would only ask for something that lines up with what is best from an eternal perspective.

The difference is distressing.  When I’m talking to myself, I’m not talking to God…or Jesus…or the Holy Spirit.  My mind is rambling, flitting from one thought to another, so why don’t I turn those thoughts to prayer?  “Jesus, please help me find my keys.”  “God, is it too late now, or can you turn this situation into a blessing?”  Lord, please help me find time to call my friends.”  “Holy Spirit, what will others think if I smell this cantaloupe?”

You get the point.  At least if I mutter it out loud and get questionable looks, I can tell people that I am talking to God.  Surely no one will complain to management if that’s my response, unless, of course, I actually smell the fruit.  Some things, as we all know, are left better unsniffed.