The Call to Listen

What would happen if we chose to listen more than we talk?

As I take my daily lunch walk through the college campus where I work, I am always amazed at the amount of people walking around with earbuds. It’s as though even, a short amount of time not listening to what we actively choose to listen to, has become unacceptable.

It’s the same when I go to the grocery store. People are either listening to their chosen media or talking on the phone, even at the check-out.

It seems as a society, that we want to have constant control over our senses. We want to work at home and not be bothered with the aggravation of co-workers. We want to see only the opinions that agree with our own in the news and on social media and will quickly unfollow anyone who has a different point of view and often choose to insult them in the process.

As much as we all complained about the isolation created by Covid, we have in many ways, created our own isolation bubbles. When someone dares to try to circumvent the carefully built walls of our own opinions, people become defensive and sometimes irate.

In a recent daily devotion, I came upon these verses: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” James 1:19-20  

They really hit home with me. Maybe all of the anger we see in the world around us is because we have intentionally stopped listening. We are really good at talking, but the listening part, not so much, so when we don’t feel like we are being heard, we just talk more and louder and that frustration feeds anger.

 What if we all were quick to listen and slow to speak? What would that look like? If we were listening more than talking, would we develop more empathy? Would we develop more patience? Would the rampant anger factor start to diminish? 

Maybe we would all learn a little something if we took out the earbuds and stopped scrolling and actually interacted and listened to the people who God has put in our paths. Maybe they are there for a reason. Maybe they have something to teach us. Maybe we have something to teach them.

If we don’t listen, we may never know. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy