Listen Up!

A recent misunderstanding between two friends of mine made me reflect on how we listen and what we hear. Good listening skills are taught in all types of places, whether in school, college, seminars, conferences, or where ever they are offered, listening is something we all seem to be encouraged to learn to do better.

The situation I was watching included the first party not realizing what was going on in the other person’s life at the time, so didn’t understand that the reaction wasn’t solely about them. The second party heard the words that were said, but interpreted them in a different manner than was meant. (They worked things out, by the way.)

When we hear things, we need to make sure we understand them clearly. And when we say things, we need to make sure we are understood. And we all have to recognize that there are times when our emotions are stronger than our self-control, and walk away for the moment.

I think about myself listening to God. Though He’s always clear, my circumstances may hinder or help me understand things in a different light. And yes, I must confess that there are times I’ve not been especially happy about what I hear from Him, and choose to walk away until I’m in a better frame of mind to listen.

Our pastor recently came back from training with a new goal in his life to read the same chapter of the Bible every day for a year, until he had truly gotten God’s message out of it. Maybe it’s my attention span, or maybe it’s because I feel I need to learn more from God’s word that I chose to take the same approach, only for a month at a time. I was pleasantly surprised at the things I learned the first month from the first passage. And daily I noted new things. After the weeks began to pass I had to look back at my notes to make sure I wasn’t repeating things. I wasn’t. From one chapter of the Bible I’ve learned or been reminded of many things:

• God is in the details
• God is always there, it’s us that doesn’t always recognize/see Him
• God provides for us
• God doesn’t need the gifts He gives us, but He accepts them with open arms from us
• Sometimes we don’t hear His calling the first time
• It’s not uncommon for us to go back to the things we knew before we knew Christ
• Sometimes God uses others to help us see Him
• Even in death God is to be glorified
• Good leaders take information from reliable sources
• Teamwork works!
• Sometimes we do what we know will be unpleasant
• God asks us even though He knows the answer
• I don’t need to worry about other people, only myself
• Wait on the Lord

You get the idea, every day there was something new in the same passage for me to think about and/or apply to my life. While I continue to work on my listening skills with others, I hope to improve my listening skills with God through this new method of study. I highly recommend it!