I posted a similar story at the beginning of the year
but I had an experience today that told me I needed to look at it again!
HOW TO GET BETTER AT
LISTENING TO THE LORD
I’ve made a
new friend at work, Kathy. One week she brought her little Chihuahua to work
because it was healing up from a wound. I went into her office to see the
little dog and we started talking. Today she brought some people into my area of
the shop and Kathy and I got to chat a bit.
She told me
she’d been to Illinois to see her family. I asked where in Illinois and she
told me. Then I got distracted because I’d been in the same town many years
ago. I started to think about that experience and totally missed hearing about the
people she went to see. I stopped being in her world and was thinking about my
world, way back when. Darn! Some of us really have to work on our listening
skills!
We let
ourselves get distracted by our own thoughts, rather than listening with our
full attention and our full hearts to what the other person is saying. In this
instance, I went on a mental journey to my own past experiences in the town Kathy
mentioned. That’s really just rude.
At other
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.
We need to 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 says, “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 whom he hath see, how can he listen to God whom he
hath not seen?” 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.
1.
Determine
to engage. This works with people and the Lord too. We need to decide to give
at least a few minutes of our time to them alone.
2.
Listen
without butting in. Let them complete what they want to say and treat it as
valuable.
3.
Ask
questions: What? Why? How? Where? When?
4.
If
you don’t understand something or you’re not sure you got it all, repeat it
back to them and ask if it you got it right.
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 love and engage in the present.
I hope I get a
chance to see Kathy tomorrow and do a better job of listening.
Love, Carolyn
WINGS: A Journey in Faith –Volume1. True stories to ENTERTAIN, INSPIRE and ENHANCE your spiritual growth.
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