“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing personal opinion.” – Proverbs 18:2
During college, I pursued my degree, prepared myself for a life in ministry, and worked several jobs. But mostly, I pursued a young lady who would eventually become my wife. I looked for every opportunity to spend time with Aimee. We both had busy work and school schedules. Even though we did not have the same area of study (my degree is in Psychology and Aimee’s degree is in Corporate and Organizational Communication), I would often choose electives that were in Aimee’s major, just so I could spend time with her.
One such class that Aimee and I took together was a communications class on listening. This class focused on teaching the fundamentals of active listening. Although I am not always the best at listening to others, I believe active listening is so important. In this class, we learned that we don’t usually listen to others to learn and to understand. We often just listen to just prepare an answer or response. That is to say, when others are talking to us, we are not giving them our full attention. We are spending part of our mental focus on our own thoughts. Active listening seeks to first hear the full thoughts of the person we are in conversation with, before we offer our own thoughts. After all, why speak without all the facts and information? It could change your answer, right?
It has been a long time since we took that class on listening, but it seems so important today. There is a lot of pain and frustration in our community, and in our world. Part of that frustration comes from the simple fact that those who are hurting have a hard time being heard. We spend a lot of time expressing our opinions, but so little time actively listening to those who are hurting. What would it be like if we first sought to hear, understand and empathize before we ever expressed our opinions? If we would like to bring peace and justice to this world, just as it is in heaven, I believe the first step is listening… active listening.
Today, take time to listen. Listen to God. Listen to your neighbor. Give someone your full attention; it may very well be the kindest thing you do.
– Rev. Keith King, Pastor of Worship
