Please Listen to Me

As a former kindergarten and first grade teacher, listening was one of the skills five and six-year-old students worked on often. You’ve heard the old adage, “With two ears and one mouth, listen twice as often as you speak.” The older I get, the more I realize this skill is one not easily mastered by most adults, much less children. (Yours truly included!)

Most moms are multitasking queens, or at least we think we are. Multitasking can squelch a conversation very quickly. Think about when dinnertime is fast approaching. Between meal preparations, phones ringing, text messaging, emailing, other fires one needs to put out, how is a parent to focus on a child? This hit me front and center recently.

My youngest son was trying to tell me about what went on at school that day. A pot on the stove started to boil over, my cell was making all sorts of noise with incoming texts and emails, the dog was whining at the door and the home phone seemed to be ringing off the hook. The poor kid couldn’t complete a sentence without being interrupted. He looked down and muttered, “I’ll tell you later Mom.”

I was frustrated with myself and the busyness of the moment. Wanting to hear about his day, I asked him to stay put at the kitchen island. The pot was removed from the burner, the cell phone was set to vibrate, and his big brother took care of the dog and the phone call. My son and I sat down together and he finally was able to tell his story beginning to end, without interuptions.

Giving someone your full attention is a gift.

God always listens.

He reminds us to listen in the Word, the Bible. Proverbs 1:5a tells us, “…let the wise listen and add to their learning.” The NIV includes the word “listen” 350 times. I think the Lord wants us to do just that, listen to Him and listen to one another.

© 2012 Becky Danielson. All rights reserved.

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Photo by Alyson McPhee on Unsplash