Friday, September 24, 2021
Greetings, Lord’s Beloved –
It is my pleasure to share the Selah blog post for Friday, September 24, with you entitled, “Am I Listening?” I have joked with friends over the years regarding whether or not they were actively listening during conversations. The question was whether or not they were genuinely engaged in what the person was saying or if they were simply hearing.
Any one of us can, depending upon the capacity of our auditory functions, receive sound stimuli. But, the art of engaged listening, I believe, goes far deeper than surface level hearing.
I was reading an article by Richard Nordquist (updated January 6, 2019; thoughtco.com) on “The Definition of Listening and How to Do It Well.” He defines listening as:
“the active process of receiving and responding to spoken (and sometimes unspoken) messages. It is one of the subjects studied in the field of language arts and in the discipline of conversation analysis.”
I believe that in the climate and context of our times, we are not all listening well, and have to ask myself the question: “Am I listening?” Do I only hear words as they are sent into the atmosphere in my midst, or am I actively engaged in the process? Am I listening to understand? What am I sensing as I listen to the person that is speaking? What does the speaker want or need me to know?
Over the next few weeks, we will explore listening as defined in the above referenced article, which is based on author Marvin Gottlieb and the elements of good listening: attention, hearing, understanding, and remembering. Today’s blog post focuses on listening as it relates to attention.
When someone makes an announcement, they normally precede their declaration with something to the effect of: “May I please have your attention (or undivided attention?” Then, once they hear or sense we are not distracted, they proceed with their message. The Shema is “the centerpiece of the daily morning and evening prayer services and is considered by some the most essential prayer in all of Judaism” (myjewishlearning.com). The Shema professes the Oneness of God as well as His Kingship. It concludes the final prayer of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement, which began at sundown, this year, on Thursday, September 16), the holiest Jewish holiday of the year.
Located in Deuteronomy 6, the Shema begins with these words:
“Hear, O’ Israel, our Lord is our God, the Lord is One.”
Notice the first word in Deuteronomy 6—the word, Hear. It is specific, attention-grabbing, and necessary! It reminds us that the Lord needs our complete attention! The call to hear precedes the message for a reason. We cannot hear what God desires to communicate to us if we are constantly talking! Not only can we not audibly hear, we cannot interpret any nonverbal cues when we lack time, focus, and space to listen. Noise, clutter, distractions, and sometimes multiple messages, can get in the way of our ability to hear correctly. Signals cross; messages get mixed-up; the result is confusion. When the Lord speaks, we have to be positioned to hear Him!
My follow-up question for us is this: “What (or Who) is getting in the way of my capacity to listen?” What interference needs to be avoided, discarded, changed, acknowledged, put away, or cleared so I can hear (listen) to what the Spirit of God is saying to me? What does the Lord want us to hear about our families? Our places of work and worship? Our nation?
Is the Lord trying to get our attention? When will we put aside what we think or presume, and give Him our full attention? Am I listening?
Have you ever been tired of talking?! I know I have—so much so that I have wanted to be quiet—to give my voice a break! Blessed quietness is Divine!
Let’s not miss what God has to say to us. Let’s be sure we are (remain) attentive! Now hear this—whatever your this is! Speak Lord, your children are listening!
Please join me next week when we consider part two in listening—hearing!
Until next time, My Friend,
Selah