Listening With Both Ears

Do your ears hang low? Do they wobble to and fro?

Can you tie them in a knot? Can you tie them in a bow?

Can you throw them o’er your shoulder

Like a continental soldier?

Do your ears hang low?

Do your ears hand high? Do they reach up to the sky?

Do they droop when they are wet? Do they stiffen when they’re dry?

Ca you semaphore your neighbor with a minimum of labour?

Do your ears hang high?

I want you to know upfront that my ears to not hang low, droop, flip-flop or waggle. I have two very cute and well-matched ears and both ears function fairly well. I am really quite blessed in the ear department so where, might you ask, am I going with this blog.

Can you envision a woman busy making dinner, answering a child’s homework questions, catching tomorrow’s weather forecast on the local news, talking to a girlfriend on her cell phone, and answering her husband’s desperate plea for directions to the lost ketchup bottle in the refrigerator? I once saw a man in the airport with two cell phones pecking away on his laptop and talking to the man next to him. You would think that would mean that we developed such a heightened sense of hearing that we are now able to listen on multiple levels. That would be my hope and dream but I would only be fooling myself.

My thesaurus lists the words pay attention, attend, hear, and focused under the word listen. These words infer that when I listen I am giving my full attention to the one who is speaking. Listening involves allowing someone to speak, as I am silently processing the information to gain understanding, asking questions to clarify any unclear points and then responding. Most of the time when someone else is speaking I am just looking for an opening, a slight pause, where I can jump in with my comment. I have to confess that I hear a lot but I listen very little. There is nothing wrong with my ears just the user.

As men and women of the 21^st century, we pride ourselves in the art of multitasking. I will be the first one to admit that not every conversation requires my full attention – like where is the supposedly lost ketchup bottle. I can pretty much answer that without thinking. On the other hand, a lot of misunderstandings could be avoided if we were listening and not just hearing.

I read the following account of a conversation on Girlfriendit Newsletter.

“Not long ago, after a long day of searching for a venue for a large event, we had this conversation during our drive time home. It went something like this:

Patty: Okay, what was the venue director saying about the guy and girl having the affair?

Lisa: What affair? (thinking to herself she missed a great conversation)

Patty: She said they were having an affair in the parking lot.

Lisa: Who was having an affair?

Patty: I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you! Something about the parking lot affair...

Lisa: Parking lot affair? She said you wouldn’t have enough parking space for the affair! Affair, as in gala.

Patty: Long pregnant pause . . .

Lisa: You know, affair, gala, venue, event!!!!!!”

Hearing without listening creates a lot of misunderstandings. Not truly listening is a major problem when it comes to our relationship with God. The Lord expects and deserves our full and focused attention. I have to ask myself if I am truly listening as God tries to speak to me through His word, a sermon, a book, a song or countless other ways or am I just hearing but not actually processing the information. Am I trying to listen to God while I am multitasking? He will not compete for my attention but waits for me to give Him my undivided attention. I am finding that listening is rare and like anything rare, it is priceless.

The Message  32-36 "So, my dear friends, listen carefully; those who embrace these my ways are most blessed.  Mark a life of discipline and live wisely; don't squander your precious life.  Blessed the man, blessed the woman, who listens to me, awake and ready for me each morning, alert and responsive as I start my day's work.  When you find me, you find life, real life, to say nothing of God's good pleasure.