Are You Listening?
Are you listening? I'm guilty of interrupting others when they are still talking. Usually, I'm excited about the conversation and can't wait to jump in and join it. But, that is not a good sign of a person adapt at listening. Lately, I've noticed people are too busy, bored, or just plain impatient to simply listen (present company included).
Since "to listen" is a verb, it indicates action on our parts. The action can be to listen for sound and identify it as in noises that seem to only occur at night, when we are in bed, and alone. You know those sounds, right? Of course, we can never seem to identify those sounds without investigating. Cue creepy music...
Another action of a listener is to comprehend or interpret the message of the one speaking. The example of the "Whisper Game" we used to play in Girl Scouts showed how listening could go awry. All the girls sat in a large circle and one person started the game by whispering a message into the ear of the girl next to her until all the girls had a chance to hear the first girl's whisper. Of course, after going through the filters of 10+ girls the message, when the last girl shared it, was completely incorrect and usually quite amusing. This game is not unlike gossip that makes its way around the neighborhood, but often void of amusement.
What a gift we can give another person by giving her space to speak, time to think, and unconditional love regardless of whether we agree or disagree with her ideals. How nice to sit with someone not in a hurry to check her phone, recognize other friends in the room, or who is patient enough to work at the conversation even if it requires struggling to follow along due to unsaid emotions or details.
I found the following poem on listening. You can tell by the price of the newspaper noted in the story that it's not just cellphones that have kept people from being good listeners:
Since "to listen" is a verb, it indicates action on our parts. The action can be to listen for sound and identify it as in noises that seem to only occur at night, when we are in bed, and alone. You know those sounds, right? Of course, we can never seem to identify those sounds without investigating. Cue creepy music...
Another action of a listener is to comprehend or interpret the message of the one speaking. The example of the "Whisper Game" we used to play in Girl Scouts showed how listening could go awry. All the girls sat in a large circle and one person started the game by whispering a message into the ear of the girl next to her until all the girls had a chance to hear the first girl's whisper. Of course, after going through the filters of 10+ girls the message, when the last girl shared it, was completely incorrect and usually quite amusing. This game is not unlike gossip that makes its way around the neighborhood, but often void of amusement.
What a gift we can give another person by giving her space to speak, time to think, and unconditional love regardless of whether we agree or disagree with her ideals. How nice to sit with someone not in a hurry to check her phone, recognize other friends in the room, or who is patient enough to work at the conversation even if it requires struggling to follow along due to unsaid emotions or details.
I found the following poem on listening. You can tell by the price of the newspaper noted in the story that it's not just cellphones that have kept people from being good listeners:
Listen
When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving me advice, you have not done what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me that I shouldn't feel that way, you are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem, you have failed me, strange as that may seem.
Listen! All that I asked was that you listen--not talk or do--just hear me.
Advice is cheap. Thirty-five cents will get you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham in the same newspaper.
All I can do is do for myself. I am not helpless--maybe discouraged, but not helpless.
When you do something for me that I can and need to do for myself, you contribute to my fear and inadequacy.
So, please listen and just hear me. If you want to talk, wait a minute for your turn--and I'll listen to you.
(By an anonymous author on http://www.inspirationalarchive.com/texts/topics/listening/listen.shtml)
(By an anonymous author on http://www.inspirationalarchive.com/texts/topics/listening/listen.shtml)
James 1:19-20
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:
Everyone should be quick to listen,
slow to speak and slow to become angry,
because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:
Everyone should be quick to listen,
slow to speak and slow to become angry,
because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
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