HOW TO GET
BETTER AT LISTENING TO THE LORD
The other day,
two of the artists at the AREA 15 project introduced themselves to me. I tried
to remember their names, and I did well with one. The other, well I totally
forgot. In a couple of days, when I saw her again, I guessed at her name, and I
was wrong. I asked her again and then I repeated it to myself several times as
I hurried on toward my work area. When I got home that day, I wrote down the
names of the six new people I’d met that day. It was a bit hard to remember
each of them, so I stuck the sheet in my pocket, in case I forgot, but during
the day I tested myself, and now I know their names well. It means a lot to a
person if you remember their name, and even more if you remember the content of
what they might have told you.
We let
ourselves get distracted by our own thoughts, rather than listening with our
full attention to what the other person is saying. God puts certain people in
our paths for many reasons: to bless us, to teach us, to wake us up to something
new, or so that we can be a blessing back to that person.
Many times, we
get busy thinking about so many things that our brains are racing into future
events, instead of staying in the present. The result is that we miss out on
quality time just listening to each other. We’ve forgotten how to have a
conversation.
What if we
slow down enough to really listen to each other? Besides practicing
consideration and love for each other, it’s great practice for listening to the
Lord. First John 4:20 say: “For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath
seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” I could say: “For he that
listens not to his brother who he sees, how can he listen to God who he doesn’t
see?” Listening is an act of love. If we want to get better at hearing from the
Lord, we can take some steps in the right direction by practicing listening to
each other. Here are a few tips that I think will help me and you too.
When we make
the effort to listen to someone, we don’t want to let our minds take a selfish
trip to the past, or an anticipatory trip to the future. We want to do our best
to let our hearts and minds engage in the present.
I hope I get a
chance to spend a few minutes more with some of the new people I’m meeting. The
general contractor sometimes has a special lunch for us construction people, so
that would be a great time to make the effort to be a great listener.
Love, Carolyn
WINGS: A
Journey in Faith –Volume2. True stories to ENTERTAIN, INSPIRE and ENHANCE your
spiritual growth.
No comments:
Post a Comment