Put away your phones. Turn off the TV. Take those headphones off. Stop playing those video games. Look around and actually see who is next to you talking and listen. You might be surprised at what is being said and even more surprised at what you learn.
We have so many distractions in life it can be very hard to listen to others. Today, it is kindness, even more than kindness, to actively listen to someone, putting away all those distractions. It shows that we care when we listen without those distractions.
It also shows we care when we let a person talk without interruption. That is so hard to do. Our minds are always working, the world spins around us and we are often impatient, interupting to fill in the rest of their sentence with whatever we think–not what they were going to say. We need to stop, listen and allow them to speak. When we focus on another, listening to what they are saying it shows love like nothing else can. Let’s love, let’s listen, let’s move together.
The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint,
and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.
Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent,
and discerning if they hold their tongues.-Proverbs 17:27-28 NIV
