lessons in milk

This morning my son Josiah was having breakfast: a bowl of Cheerios. While he was eating he was studying a catalogue of Thomas the Train Engine toys. (his favorite toy, to be sure!). As I passed through the kitchen I said to him, "Josiah, focus on your cereal or you'll spill your cereal."
A few minutes later, I heard him cry out to me from the kitchen, announcing that he had spilled his cereal and it was running off the table and onto his seat. (all this was about 10 min. before we needed to be out the door to get he and Rebekah to school!)
I was certainly a bit irritated, but managed to hold it together as I cleared up the mess.
What stood out for me was his response when I said to him, "Josiah, why didn't you listen to me when I told you this would happen?"
Josiah's answer was great: "I did. My ears listened."
For some reason, it made me think at that moment about how often Jesus has told me to do something or not to do something and my ears have listened but I didn't do what he said.
James said "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." (James 1:22)
Recently I've been reading a lot in the Scriptures where there are those same exhortations to not only listen but to ACT on what we hear.
Sometimes I see a lot of myself in my son!