Active Listening

While there is much to be said for the pace of today's world, few people would argue that there is too much time spent listening. Activity seems to spring out of every crack and crevice and with it noise and distraction. One common response is to plug a set of earphones into the latest portable music device and turn up the volume, but this simply replaces the unending craziness with distractions we can control. We remain distracted, nonetheless, maybe even more so because we find meaning in the sights and sounds we choose. Almost by definition, then, we close off all opportunity for God to get our attention. When we hold the remote, the Holy Spirit channel is rarely tuned in.

There seems to be a belief that listening is easy and relaxing. The odd thing is, most chosen distractions are neither relaxing nor easy to listen to. In fact, listening well takes concentration and commands our attention, neither of which can really be done passively. We must admit that when we are in close touch with another person, communicating completely, seeing things together, that it's an exciting, energizing experience. There is a vibrancy that exists, not so much in one person or the other, but between them. Like an electric charge that can do no work unless it is flowing, accepting another person's words and feelings creates a warmth, both in the speaker and in the listener, like no other. It validates the source and at the same time gives purpose to the receiver. Clearly, intimacy of this sort takes effort and practice.

To be sure, not all relating is inspiring, even when both parties are experienced and committed. Couples deeply in love can be frustrated by prolonged periods of misunderstanding. Bridging youthful and elderly age gaps can require vast, inhuman amounts of patience. Space and time can intervene, even in today's connected world. And just the wear and tear of the ordinary can pressure emotions in ways that can't be put into words. Yet we persist in trying and often enough, we do touch, if just for a short while or in an incomplete way. Those fleeting, grasping connections give us life, push us to deeper meaning, motivate our continued striving. We return, not really refreshed, but renewed, and we reach out, to hear and to be heard, to listen strongly, listen with strength.

This is one important way that we are made in the image of God. For God listens and knows our thoughts before we speak them. He is always within hearing distance and is never too busy to lend an ear. He yearns to hear us talk and to talk back to us and he is constantly speaking through the world around us and the people we meet. How can we be so deaf and blind to not notice? This question drives many Lenten practices, from daily prayer to meditation to church attendance to random acts of kindness. Believers everywhere know they can learn to be better listeners. It takes practice and lots and lots of hard work, but it is more than worth the effort.

May God's will be made known to you and may you listen actively to Him.