Learn to Listen

Have you ever just sat in a room and stayed completely silent? Sat there and let everyone around you speak? You absorb everything that is being said and try to understand, without filling in the empty spaces with your voice.

Instead of trying to be heard, you try to hear.

I've discovered that when I try to do this, when I let others speak, I learn.

Unfortunately, I'm often guilty of being quick to speak. As a result, I talk too fast, saying things that are random and often times, foolish. (I also miss half the conversation because I'm trying to gather my thoughts.)

Yet when I listen, I'm able to understand so much more. Instead of focusing on what I'm saying, I'm able to actually hear the words of others. I get to find out more about people and actually remember what they tell me.

Then if I do actually have something to say, it tends to have more importance, or at least be more coherent. It isn't some random, jumbled thought that I'm spitting out just to hear myself. It actually has meaning, and so I end up being more comfortable, more sure of what I'm saying. I feel less embarrassed to speak, simply because I stopped for a moment and listened.

James 1:19 sums it up saying, "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:"  Basically, one of the greatest skills we can learn is how to let words in before we spit words out.

That is my prayer tonight: that I would learn to be quick to listen and slow to speak.