So......two psychiatrists at a prominent psychiatric clinic met one day
on the elevator on their way up to their office. The younger of the
two, who was just beginning practicing psychiatry and who had had
his older colleague on an extremely and unrealistically high pedestal,
turned to her and burst out: “I’ve served with you for a while now,
and I’m wondering how in the world you listen at such great length
and with such patience to your clients problems and woes day after
day! Tell me. How do you do it?” Without a moment’s hesitation and
with great humor written on her face, she shot back: “Who listens?”
That’s a perceptive question to be addressed at us on our Lenten Journey? We’re besieged with information, with words stacked on top of words piled miles high and miles wide; 24/7 cable; technology our grandparents couldn’t even have imagined; and, we now know exponentially more about what’s going on in the world than any preceding generation in history! Perhaps, as a result, we’ve become immune to real listening to God and each other!
So, let’s turn to remedies rather than diagnoses! Let’s think for a moment about what all this means to those of us who live in this environment in which listening has gone on sabbatical. How can you and I be faithful to the God we love and serve in a day when real listening has gone out of style?
First, we need to stop assuming we know what those with whom we come in contact (family, friends, and strangers) are saying as they are speaking. Silence is golden in the listening business! When the Bible repeats itself, it’s worth listening! On repeated occasions the words of the writer James are echoed in Scripture: “Post this at all intersections, dear friends: lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear” (James 1:19) We need to take a long breath when someone is speaking, to listen not only to the speaker, but also to the person who is speaking, and to honor who they are in our listening! Stop what we’re doing, look into her eyes, listen to his heart. Hard task! Great rewards!
Second, we need to turn our unrelenting attention from technology (cell phones, TV, “texts”, Facebook, Instagram, twitter, email, distractions), and give our total focus to the person to whom we are seeking to listen. How many times I find myself slowly backing away, moving on to the next thing on my agenda, or thinking dismissive thoughts instead of truly trying to hear what’s on a person’s heart!
Finally, moving on to the most important listening dimension of all, we need to make time each day (hour, moment), to listen to the “Still small voice of God” who knows what’s really up with us and those with whom we are in relationship! Again, hear James in The Message translation: “Don’t fool yourself into thinking you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are or what they look like.” I am continually shocked and unimaginably blessed in those rare moments when I’m graced to stop and ask: “Lord, what is it that you’d like to say to me right now?”
Prayer: Dear God, I thank you that you are ever present to me in your Holy Spirit. During this holy season of Lent, help me to see You more clearly, love You more dearly, and follow You more nearly. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
The Rev. Craig Peel
That’s a perceptive question to be addressed at us on our Lenten Journey? We’re besieged with information, with words stacked on top of words piled miles high and miles wide; 24/7 cable; technology our grandparents couldn’t even have imagined; and, we now know exponentially more about what’s going on in the world than any preceding generation in history! Perhaps, as a result, we’ve become immune to real listening to God and each other!
So, let’s turn to remedies rather than diagnoses! Let’s think for a moment about what all this means to those of us who live in this environment in which listening has gone on sabbatical. How can you and I be faithful to the God we love and serve in a day when real listening has gone out of style?
First, we need to stop assuming we know what those with whom we come in contact (family, friends, and strangers) are saying as they are speaking. Silence is golden in the listening business! When the Bible repeats itself, it’s worth listening! On repeated occasions the words of the writer James are echoed in Scripture: “Post this at all intersections, dear friends: lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear” (James 1:19) We need to take a long breath when someone is speaking, to listen not only to the speaker, but also to the person who is speaking, and to honor who they are in our listening! Stop what we’re doing, look into her eyes, listen to his heart. Hard task! Great rewards!
Second, we need to turn our unrelenting attention from technology (cell phones, TV, “texts”, Facebook, Instagram, twitter, email, distractions), and give our total focus to the person to whom we are seeking to listen. How many times I find myself slowly backing away, moving on to the next thing on my agenda, or thinking dismissive thoughts instead of truly trying to hear what’s on a person’s heart!
Finally, moving on to the most important listening dimension of all, we need to make time each day (hour, moment), to listen to the “Still small voice of God” who knows what’s really up with us and those with whom we are in relationship! Again, hear James in The Message translation: “Don’t fool yourself into thinking you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are or what they look like.” I am continually shocked and unimaginably blessed in those rare moments when I’m graced to stop and ask: “Lord, what is it that you’d like to say to me right now?”
Prayer: Dear God, I thank you that you are ever present to me in your Holy Spirit. During this holy season of Lent, help me to see You more clearly, love You more dearly, and follow You more nearly. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
The Rev. Craig Peel
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