Listen

I was at an Ananias meeting this afternoon and heard something pretty cool. Ananias is healing prayer by the way.  We learned about listening. It's funny how you know something and then someone smarter than you says it in a much cooler way and then it's like you just heard it for the first time.  And it's brilliant.  Welcome to my life.  

We learned about how listening is much different than hearing.  We learned that listening is satisfies our need to be validated.    We hear with our ears, but listen with our hearts.  We should listen with the heart and ears of Jesus Christ in order to have the right to speak the word of God. About here is when I zoned out.  That was enough for me to chew on.  So cool.  

I got to thinking.  How cool is it, as friends, siblings, children, parents,prayer people, etc that we get the chance to be in relationships with people that we love.  We get the chance to listen to each other.  We get the chance to do life together.  It's not always rainbows and butterflies, it's messy, but is real.  It's love.  It's life.  It's what we were made for.  We were made for community.  I am an introvert.  I am also an extrovert.  I need alone time.  I need people time.  At some point, after extreme inner analyzation, I have to talk it out.  And I do it with people that have the gift of listening.  It's so cool.  Having a good chat with a friend is quite possibly one of my all time favorite things.  Not talking at each other.  But, really listening.  You can tell if someone is truly listening to you.  Or when they aren't.  You can tell if they truly get it.  You could tell them anything.  And when you know someone gets it, you feel like a million bucks (or at least I do).  I can tell almost right away if someone doesn't get what I am saying and it's like the Great Wall of China goes up.  I understand the whole validation piece all too well.  It's so true.  To me, good conversation and good company are priceless.  It got me thinking.  I want to be a good listener.  I want to listen with the ears and heart of Christ.  I want people to feel affirmed and loved and understood.  I want to "get it."  So that is my prayer.  That God would give me listening ears and a listening heart. 

Thanks for listening:)

In other news Patty Griffin has new music out.  My ears and heart are very happy:)