~Listen~

True confessions, real honesty and raw vulnerability here.  I love good conversations; I thrive on visiting with others.  Deep discussions or quick catch ups.  Over the phone, at the store, in the drive up at school, at my kitchen table.  I love to talk...but I am not a good listener.  I know this about myself.  I have known it about myself for a while; and yet still, I am not a good listener.  I tend to think about how I am going to respond while someone else is speaking.  And I interrupt…all the time I interrupt.  Because of course what I have to say trumps what the other person has to say.  Often, I don’t even realize that I do it until after the fact; but sometimes it does register with me in the very moment that I am not listening.  I also have a bad habit of distracted listening…going through the motions, but not being present with the one speaking.  Being on my phone.  Or deep in my thoughts.  Or letting busy work keep me from hearing.  It makes my heart hurt when I think about how bad of a listener I can be.  Anyone else relate?

At times I am not a good listener.  But the thing is that I want to be.  I want to be present and intentional with listening to the words of others.  I want to be able to look at them, pay attention to them and really hear what they are saying.  Because isn’t that ultimately what we want from others?  To really hear us, not just listen to us talk, but truly hear what is at the heart of what we’re saying?  I want to be a good listener because I want to see to the heart of what those around me are saying.  God didn’t intend for us to do this journey of life on our own, we need family, friends, community.  And one of the best ways that we can build on those relationships is to take the time to really listen to one another. Who knows what treasures we are missing because we aren't intentional with listening?

"Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry."  James 1:19