Are you listening

I’m sure that we’ve all made the following statement, “If that was me, I don’t know if I would be able to…,” or we have said to someone, “Why are you sad? Don’t you go getting all depressed and shutting me out. You are strong.” What we don’t realize is that these statements sound very judgmental and can make someone feel even worse than they did before they told you about their situation. We are so quick to judge someone else’s situation without knowing how we we would truly feel or act if we were in that situation. We shouldn’t pick on people, judge their failures, and criticize their pasts, unless of course we want the same treatment. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly smear on your own (Matthew 7:1-4 MSG). It’s so much easier for us to see the cracks in somebody else’s life and try to fix them before we work on our own. Have we ever stopped to think that the reason the person is telling us the things they are telling us is not for us to respond, but for them to release and for us to listen? The problem with most of us is that we listen to speak instead of listening to hear. Bishop Oliphant said, “Listening requires selflessness and we don’t have to say things all the time. We destroy things by not listening.” That’s a wow statement right there. We destroy things by not listening. That could be applied to so many situations, friendships, relationships, opportunities, lives, dreams, self-esteem, etc. So, the next time you think about half listening to someone, think about what you could be destroying and allowing the world to miss out on simply because you didn’t listen. Saying you hear and showing that you hear is two different things. Love Eboni P.