There is this little voice in your head that tells you to do things. You know it is right an alarming percentage of the time, but still, you disregard, equivocate, and talk yourself out of listening to it.
“take the umbrella” – “I HATE carrying the dumb umbrella!” “I ALWAYS leave it somewhere!” “It is NOT going to rain!” You don’t take the umbrella. Sure enough, it rains, and instead of sheltering a comely stranger in distress, you get wet, ruin your shoes, and catch a cold.
“give a dollar to the homeless vet with a sign” – “I am SCARED.” “He’ll use it for DRUGS or BOOZE anyway!” “It will take me TOO LONG to dig it out.” – You ignore him. Then, every once in a while, you wonder, what happened to him? Would it have changed his life?
“call your mother” – “I JUST talked to her, like, what, 2 months ago?” “She ALWAYS carries on for HOURS!” “I REALLY don’t want to talk about the state of my marriage.” – You don’t call your mother. She never gets a chance to tell you about her latest ailment; the one that kills her. She dies alone, and you feel terrible for the rest of your life.
This little voice is important. God gave us conscience for a reason. Most of the time, it knows what the right thing to do is. And it is connected to your subconscious, which knows things you may not be aware of. Like the proper chance of rain. Or the importance of charity. Or your mother’s health condition. If it tells you you ought to, you ought to.