Can You Hear Me Now? - Lochlanina Tobey

“Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” Psalm 5:2-3

I always wonder about the other side of the conversation on those commercials. You know the ones I mean. The guy with his cell phone takes a step and says, "Can you hear me now? Good." We are given the impression that he has a signal everywhere from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the top of Mount Katahdin.

But what if this guy is just wandering around talking to himself? Doesn’t he realize you have to wait for an answer from the other end? "You can still hear me? Good. I'm stepping over here. Can you hear me now?" Pause. What if the other end of the conversation is, "No . . . are you there? You're breaking up. Hello? Hello? I'm losing you. Hello!?"

What if that's how we pray sometimes? We think we are making a phone call straight to God. The technology works, but we aren't listening to the other end of the conversation nor have we bothered to actually dial the number. Perhaps we sometimes pretend to pray -- like an actor pretending to make a phone call.

What if we get so busy saying, "Good. I'm stepping over there now..." that we don't stop to wait for God's end of the conversation. We don't pause. We forget to wait for the, "Yes, my child" or the "No, I'm losing you, come back." Are we hearing, are we listening for God’s end of the conversation?

Our Father, who art in Heaven . . . can you hear me now?

Lochlanina Tobey uses her degree in English composition from Messiah College as an excuse for writing and teaching poetry. Her most recent prize winning poem, The Finality of Rain, appears on UtmostChristianWriters.com. In 2008 she trained with CLASServices, Inc. as a professional Christian speaker and feels blessed to minister as a leader and speaker at women’s retreats.

Read Lochlanina's devotions.

Caught in the Act of Grace - Lochlanina Tobey

She watches Him write,
His finger carving lines in the earth, the soil,
the sand, the rocks they would have thrown.

He bends without sin, lowering Himself
to the same dust He used
to make Adam.

She hears Him speak forgiveness.
Knowing every offense, her every flaw,
He loves her still.

He stoops with grace.
She watches as He bends to write
His name upon her heart.


Lochlanina Tobey uses her degree in English composition from Messiah College as an excuse for writing and teaching poetry. Her work has appeared in The Penwood Review, The Common Ground Review, Rock and Sling, UtmostChristianWriters.com, ChristainDevotions.us, The Sunville Spotlight, and The Electronic Green Journal, among others. Lochlanina has also trained with CLASServices as a speaker and feels blessed to minister at Christian women’s retreats. For more information visit her website http://lochlanina.com/ .

Therefore I Am - Lochlanina Tobey

I think therefore I am. --Descartes

When the hills bend with trees to shape a pause, to stop the world…
When all that I know can’t hold thoughts of time without end,
vast clear seas, one small cell
or moon, or bone, or dirt,
leaves and wings and death…
When all that I can tell you is less than you can learn
from birds who fly south and north
from signs and clouds and the sun stained sky
when day first breaks …

When the ease, the cheer, the sigh,
the voice in my head,
brings peace that is not my own…
I am formed, made new
shaped and bent, pressed like clay
torn and sewn, patched like quilts
carved and hewn, like wood planed smooth
in His hands.

When these things spin in my mind…
When the hushed wind that moves crowned peaks bends to speak…
When the child is born,
and the rocks cry out,
and I see who He makes me…
When I reach that place,
I know
He is
I AM.


Lochlanina Tobey uses her degree in English composition from Messiah College as an excuse for writing and teaching poetry. Her most recent prize winning poem, The Finality of Rain appears on UtmostChristianWriters.com. In 2008 she trained with CLASServices, Inc. as a professional Christian speaker and feels blessed to minister as a leader and speaker at women’s retreats.