Talk is cheap. Listening is expensive.
Ever hear that joke? "Conversation: a vocal competition in which the one who is catching his breath is called the listener"
Recently, I was warned by somebody to avoid stepping on a gift bag, which was laying close to my feet at the time. I heard the warning but didn't pay close attention. Eventually, I ended up crushing the gift bag with my feet - not because I forgot that it was there but because I did not pay attention to the fact that it was someone else's gift bag.
"Oops! Is this a gift bag?"
"Yea, I told you. You don't listen to me..."
Paying attention is central in loving. To be clear, I'm not talking about being an attention-hog and people-pleaser. I'm talking about active listening. ;)
Technology and certain responsibilities have revealed my selfishness - I feel the great need to express myself (Tweet, Facebook status, blog, counsel) but don't care to put in the hard work of listening.
Courageous Christ-follower, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "The first service one owes to others in the community involves listening to them. Just as our love for God begins with listening to God's Word, the beginning of love for other Christians is learning to listen to them. God's love for us is shown by the fact that God not only gives us God's Word, but also lends us God's ear.... so often Christians, especially preachers, think that their only service is always to have to 'offer' something when they are together with people. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking."
Attention denotes significance. You want to love somebody? Pay attention.
In his book, Nudge, Leonard Sweet writes, "To pay attention requires availability... the capacity of being available, or being willing to interrupt your work and your agenda for generous acts. [It] involves noticing and nudging people by giving them more than a name tag or even a name... it is interrupting your personal agenda to enter into the reality of who they are..."
I wait for those spectacular moments of sudden inspiration and grandiose supernatural visions that leave me with incredible highs - but how many times have I ignored the whispers from God? How many times have I completely bypassed the nudges of love in the everyday moments with the people that I take for granted?
In this season of Thanksgiving, I'm reminded that thankfulness is not a passive emotion, but one that requires a resolute response. To be thankful implies humility. And what is humility - the recognition of who I really am in light of who God is, and that He is greater. The essence of John 3:30. I'm thankful for my God who listens to me, and for placing people in my life who have listened. I resolve to be available. I resolve to listen.
