DAY 14 - Taking Time to Listen

Scripture Reading — Mark 5:25-34; James 1:12-27

Our lives are busy. Most of us feel like we need more hours in a day, more days in a week, and we have too little time for sleep and relaxation. We feel as if we can give only brief attention to any one thing. Who has time to stop and really listen to another person? If we ask someone how she is doing, and she begins to give a real answer, our first thought is “I don’t have time for this!” 

Paul calls us to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, but we can’t do that if we are too focused on our own to-do lists. Jesus was very busy too. In just over three years, he healed the sick, trained followers, taught a whole new understanding of the Old Testament, saved human­kind from sin, and set in motion events that will one day make all things new. And yet, he took time to listen to a sick woman tell the whole story of her illness. And that’s just one example of Jesus’ taking time to really be with people.

We can also be impatient listeners. God made us with two ears and one mouth, yet many of us are much better at talking than at listening. When we listen too little and talk too much, we show that we think our ideas are more important than the ideas of others. We talk to others, and before our story is half done, the listener responds with a better story of their own. We listen impatiently, thinking only of what we want to say next. We may think we’ve had a wonderful conversation with someone—until we are asked what they’ve said. If we can’t recall, that’s probably a danger sign. Relationships have been destroyed because someone did not bother to tune their ears to what was said. 

But James grabs us by the elbow, turns us aside, and warns us, “Everyone should be quick to listen, [and] slow to speak …” Are we quick to become angry because we haven’t bothered to listen carefully? If so, we’d listen better by hearing both the words and the heart of the person who is talking. That takes both ears!

Ask the Holy Spirit to make you a better listener today!

Everlasting God, Hearer of words and hearts, thank you for listening to us always. I feel so busy, so limited, so impatient. Teach me to slow down, listen, and love others. Help me to be quick to listen and slow to speak. May I rejoice and mourn with people in their sorrows and joys. Help me to show kindness and respect to others, knowing that they too have something to say. In Jesus' name, Amen.