Listening Ears

Communication is one of life’s most necessary events.  The ability to convey our thoughts to another person and to receive their thoughts as well is indeed a blessing.  Words, whether written or spoken, become the vehicle by which we express what is on our minds.

Words beautifully arranged in perfect composition or in eloquent speech, however, do not necessarily mean communication has occurred.  We may write or say what we really mean, but unless the one reading or listening is on the same frequency we may not accurately communicate.  Words sometimes fail us because of the human tendency to misunderstand.  How frustrating when our best attempts to communicate are misinterpreted.  Good communication occurs when we work hard at giving and receiving the same signals.

It is not always other people’s fault when they misunderstand what we think is clear speech.  We may need to sit where they sit and listen with their ears to what we are saying.  Seeking to understand another’s misunderstanding is one of life’s most loving expressions.  We all have an emotional as well as a mental vocabulary.  Some words have an emotional meaning which is not found in the dictionary.  The cultural and psychological circumstances which birthed us have a lot to do with what we hear and what we say.  To grasp this reality is an aid to good communication. 

Sometimes we hear only what we want to hear.  Our thought processes are so slanted we find it difficult to be objective in our listening.  When this happens it is easy to quote someone out of context.  We express the opinion of others from the perspective of our own opinion.  Such mishandling of another’s conversation greatly hinders communication.  It gives the appearance of dishonesty even though we simply repeat what we thought we heard.

Jesus understood the human defects of speech and hearing.  On one occasion He said, “Let your ‘yea’ be ‘yea’ and your ‘nay’ be ‘nay.” In other words. say what you mean and mean what you say.  He also said, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus asks us to listen with discernment and integrity.

When we speak and listen in love, good communication will often be the end result.  May the words of our mouths and the listening of our ears be acceptable in His sight.