I recently went to a local hustings event where prospective parliamentary candidates gave their views on a range of topics. I was looking forward to hearing what they said on a variety of issues but unfortunately I couldn’t hear very well. This was partly my fault for sitting at the back but there was also a problem with the sound system which resulted in members of the audience shouting out ‘we can’t hear you’ in true pantomime style once or twice during the evening.
I really wanted some clear answers but sadly I couldn’t hear all the answers clearly.
As I walked back to the car afterwards I reflected on what it means to listen well. In a political debate there will always be certain candidates that we tune out from, parties whose policies that we are against. It struck me that we should probably learn to listen well even when we expect to disagree with people.
We also need to listen well to the people around us each day. Life is so busy, fast and full that listening well is becoming less common. We can be easily distracted by mobile devices or by any screens that we can see and very sadly technology, as wonderful as it is, is having a negative impact on our face to face relationships.
When we listen to someone well, it shows them how much we value them.
We also need to think about how we listen to God. We find his teaching in the Bible and so hearing what he is saying seems really easy. Jesus often used the phrase ‘if anyone has ears to hear then they should listen to what he is saying’. Jesus seemed to be distinguishing between hearing words and understanding them and our prayer should be that as we read the Bible that God would help us to understand what we are reading. I want to hear what God is saying because he is the most important thing in my life.
When we listen to someone well, it shows them how much we value them.
Sometimes listening well is difficult, but it is important that we make the effort and that we really pay attention so that we can hear what people are really saying.
Honest about my faith 