Posts Tagged: "Listening"

felt deeply heard post

I Asked Them To Remember A Time When They Felt Deeply Heard

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

I was a youth pastor in the Northwest for 15 years. I’ve been a lead pastor for the past 10 years… so I still have more youth ministry experience than leading a whole church. Hey, I’m a rookie! Cut me some slack por favor.

I think I’m going back into youth ministry. At least for a season. We’ve had some staffing changes at our church and our youth ministry needs leadership right now.

So I got youth ministry on my mind.

At my age, I know better than to plan a trip to the hipster barber shop or go to the mall and drop some bills on the coolest shoes. Trying to impress young people is no longer my game plan.

Impressing young people with my coolness factor? Nah. Impressing young people with my oratory skillz? Lol, nope.

I’ve got a different plan these days. It’s maybe a little more mature (I hope?).

My plan is to… Read More

attitude of listening post

An Attitude Of Listening

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

Continuing in this theme of stillness / quiet / silence / listening / hearing… a few more words from Sue Monk Kidd’s book God’s Joyful Surprise:

The aim of silence is to create an attitude of listening to God.

Without listening, silence is just a vacuum. Inside our silence, we seek an encounter, a dialog, a participation with His presence. But learning to hear His whisper is the most delicate miracle of all. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears…”

If. That little word says a great deal to us, doesn’t it? It says God speaks, He knocks, He awakens… but… perhaps we will not hear Him.

Not long ago I stepped outside into the deep velvety darkness of an… Read More

Silence. Quietness. Stillness. Post

Silence. Quietness. Stillness. Is There Anything We Neglect More?

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

There’s a gas station near my house that I frequent. When I stopped in the other day, something was different. We were headed out together as a family for an adventure. As I stepped out of the car to fill it up, there was instant noise and flickering of lights… the gas station had upgraded their pumps—the new ones featured little television screens and speakers.

This is not my favorite.

I realized as I stood there waiting for the tank to fill that I had come to enjoy these 2-3 minutes of quietness. And now that space has been filled up with news reports, entertainment, and advertisement.

Sue Monk Kidd, in her book God’s Joyful Surprise, writes…

Silence. Quietness. Stillness. Is there anything twenty-first century America neglects as much? There is no reprieve even in the elevator where music is piped in to cover the silence. We drive to the store or home from work through a maze of billboards screaming more words at us.

All day the roar of technology around us is constant: traffic, planes, phones, dishwashers, television, videos, electronic toys that talk, blip and bleep incessantly. We are buried under a… Read More

listening prayer post

Lent Day 35… Listening To God Is Far More Important Than Giving Him Our Ideas

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

Why is it that when we speak to God we are said to be praying but when God speaks to us we are said to be schizophrenic? —Lily Tomlin

I’ll admit it: whenever someone begins a sentence with, “God told me…” alarm bells go off in my head. It’s not that I don’t believe God speaks to people. I do believe. It’s just that I also know how easily we twist, manipulate, and hear only what we want to hear.

And yet, I wonder why we think of prayer as this one-way exchange where we give God our lists and then say “Amen,” as if to finalize the whole thing. Maybe we should be listening. Maybe we should be waiting.

The trouble with nearly everybody who prays is that he says “Amen” and runs away before God has a chance to reply. Listening to God is far more important than giving Him our ideas. —Frank Laubach

 

five questions and a prayer post

Learning To Listen

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

From Trevor Hudson’s book A Mile in My Shoes: Cultivating Compassion.

We grow toward Christlikeness as we become more caring. A non-caring Christ-follower is a contradiction in terms. However, we cannot show real concern, especially for those in pain, unless we first take time to listen.

We can only love those to whom we genuinely listen.

For this reason, if we intend to put our lives alongside those who suffer and reflect to them the compassion of Christ, our presence must always be a listening one. This could be why James encouraged his readers to “be quick to listen, slow to speak” (James 1.19).

Christians are not well known for their listening.

Often our own inability to listen well has made others feel isolated, unaccepted, and unloved. Thankfully, we can all learn to listen better. While few people seem naturally gifted as listeners, most of us need to develop this vital gateway to compassion. Few activities require as much energy, effort, and patience. Involving at least three basic steps, good listening enables us to grow in the Compassionate Way.

1. Stop Talking.

2. Give total attention to the one speaking.

3. Communicate understanding of what is shared.

Against the backdrop of these basic guidelines, I invite you to asses the quality of your current listening ability.

Growing in self-awareness about our listening ability often initiates a fresh commitment to become a better listener. Here are ten straightforward yes or no questions to consider. A positive answer to any number of them could… Read More

noise post

If You Listen You Will Hear

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

Behold the One who can’t take his eyes off you. Marinate in the vastness of that. —Father Greg Boyle

Our world is a noisy place. Especially right now it seems.

There are so many voices clamoring for our attention.

But there is a voice that matters most. And if you listen, you will hear…

Henri Nouwen said:

Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says, “Prove that you are… Read More

low and slow enough to listen

Low & Slow Enough To Listen

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

If men do not keep on speaking terms with children, they cease to be men, and become merely machines for eating and for earning money. —John Updike

I wonder if we are “maturing” to a place where most of what we do is a never ending cycle of producing and consuming, consuming and producing. Or as Updike put it, machines for eating and for earning money.

Tina Francis spoke of this recently—when she talked about being still and knowing He is God. She said, “It’s when I’m no longer producing or consuming that I am most able to experience God’s love.”

We often think in terms of how the poor need us, or how children need us – for help, instruction, advice, etc.

But truthfully, we need the poor, and we need the child. They instruct us in the way of the Kingdom.

They remind us to play, to listen, to enjoy small and simple things.

They remind us to celebrate, to sing, to imagine.

They remind us to make use of cardboard boxes and sticks and to not be afraid of the dirt.

If we do not keep on speaking terms with the poor, with the child, we lose… Read More