The first duty of love is to listen. – Paul Tillich
We all want to be heard. We want our family and friends to be there for us in times of need. We want other people to listen to our ideas, our feelings and our many thoughts. We all want to be able to talk. But who is willing to listen?
It is not listening if we fill our minds with our own opinions while others speak. It is not listening if instead of trying to understand where others are coming from, we are trying to find ways to defend our point of view. We don’t really listen if we keep silent only with our mouths as others speak.
If we truly want to listen, we keep also the silence in our minds so we can hear what other people are saying. If we truly want to listen, we listen not only to what they are saying, but also to what they may want to share but fail to say. We listen not only with our ears but with our hearts.
There are many times when we think we have already given another person a chance to speak, but what we don’t realize is that we may have failed to really listen enough. If we have listened enough, we may have learned more than what we think we already know. We may have discovered something else that the other person really wanted to say.
We don’t listen just to have a chance to disagree. We listen to show the other person our respect. We listen believing that the other person has something worth saying, if not in words, in things which even words can fail to express. Have you listened enough?
So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger… – James 1:19, WEB
Find hope in your darkest hour.
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One reply on “Have You Listened Enough?”
I agree, Joyce. We cannot truly listen unless we are loving. Blessings!