1484) School has just started for me and one thing that wears me out is the demand for my attention. I have wondered how many times my name has been called out during a single day. Would it be upward to 100? It seems like it. When all the children in a classroom call on me and they are all speaking at once, it’s hard to listen to any of them. That’s understandable but have you ever considered that listening is a difficult thing to do? Why?

I’m no expert on the human brain, but I know our minds process quickly everything that is going on around us. As we are hearing, our brains can fill in what we think another person is saying and immediately, we plan what we want to say next. This type of “hearing” isn’t really listening.

If we’re going to listen to someone, we must focus our minds on what they are saying and not on what we want to say back. It takes practice to become a truly good listener.

One thing I have been doing to get better at listening is to repeat back to the person what I heard them say. In doing so, I can confirm what the other person is trying to communicate and if I’m wrong, they can correct me.

It is not a surprise to me that James 1:19 tells us we need to focus on listening over speaking and reacting emotionally. If we truly try to understand what someone else is communicating, even in a stressful conversation, it can ease the strife considerably. Everyone wants to be heard, so we need to practice listening.