Who Listens to You?

Who listens to you?  Who really listens to you?

Several years ago, I asked this question to a group of about fifteen adults and there was a long silence after my question. An uncomfortable silence. Not one of the fifteen could identify a person who regularly listened deeply to them. Instead, they talked of how they longed to be listened to, about how they themselves weren’t very good listeners, about how important it was to listen well.

I have a theory that a good deal of the conflict that happens in our world occurs because too many of us go through too many days when it seems that no one is listening to us. Listening deeply and well heals and repairs the world.

That’s especially true now. So many of us are carrying so much these days. So, again, I ask: Who listens to you?

It’s always been the claim of our tradition that God listens to us. That God sees us and loves and listens to us. That God hears and receives our fears, our longings, our hopes.

It follows that when we listen deeply and well to another person, we are doing holy work. I bet that we can all identify a person in our lives that we haven’t been listening to all that well lately. Maybe we can commit to doing a better job of listening.

Because when we listen to another, when someone listens to us, when we spend time with God, who is the best and deepest of listeners, we become a little more whole. And the world is repaired.

Who listens to you? What is one thing you can do to better listen to others?

-Written by Rev. Amy Miracle

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