dailydatewithgod

What do you hear?  What do you listen for?  How do others listen to you?  What is your listening of yourself and others?  The statistics on listening are something along the lines that we actually listen to about 25% of the time? I learned a while back that a quick way to test if I am actually listening to someone is to see whether or not I am waiting for them to finish so that I can speak.  The moment we begin to formulate a response to what someone else is saying, we have stopped listening.  It takes great patience to quiet the voice in our head that has already started chattering as a result of what the other person is saying.  It is called active listening.   The other things that happens often when we are listening is that we have a certain listening of another person.  The way that I can check this out is if before we even have the conversation I am telling myself that I know what they are going to say –dead giveaway. LOL!  It takes discipline to be open to what my occur in a situation.  I believe the saying goes–we have two ears and one mouth, use accordingly.  Listening requires us to slow down, be aware, be open, and not have the answers.  One of the most important tools I have learned is when the other person is done talking, I ask “How can I help?”  That way I don’t have to come up with something before they are done talking because even when I do it may not be what they are looking for.  Mind you, this looks like me having a prayer conversation in my head when I am listening to someone.  In other words, the moment someone starts talking to me the answers or what I am going to say in response begin almost immediately so I have to breathe and ask God to help me focus on what they are saying.  When I do that, not only am I honoring the other person by actually listening to what they are saying, but I can then hear what God wants me to hear. I also have learned to listen to the things that come out of my own mouth.  I have heard it said that I need to hear whatever I am telling someone else.  Our word is our wand.  What we speak becomes reality.  God is  speaking to us through other people, situations, our own speaking–multiple modalities.  Whenever I think God is silent, I have to pause and ask if God is silent or if I have just stopped listening for God and am only paying attention to what is being said in my own head.  I hear God in music, all kinds, all the time.  Every cell on this planet is an expression of God’s love for us, including our cells.  On a rough day, the fact that my body is functioning speaks of God’s love for me–simple but true.  Sometimes I can’t hear God because I stopped listening for love.  I don’ t believe love is my destiny, my core, or where I come from, but just because I don’t remember, doesn’t mean it isn’t true.  My prayer for you today is that you are reminded that God is speaking love to you and of you.  Will your heart be open to listening today?  Make it a great one! Peace~Colleen