Positive Daily Inspiration – June 1, 2022 – LET THEM HEAR

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Matthew 11:15

As I look back over my first 70 years, I wish that I had talked less and listened more. Yes, I wish that I had listened to humans more, but mostly I wish that I had listened to God more for God’s perfect direction and guidance.

There is a good reason why we have two ears and only one mouth.

“The quieter you become – the more you hear!” Christopher Ian Chenoweth

A telephone operator said, “Long distance calling, Mr. Jim Allen.”

“Hello, Jim,” said an anxious voice, “This is your old pal, Andy. Listen, Jim. I’m having some difficulty and need $100.”

“I can’t hear you,” said Jim. “Something must be wrong with the phone.”

“I need $100,” Andy shouted louder.

“I still can’t hear you,” Jim said again.

Just then the operator interrupted. “I can hear him,” she said.

“Fine,” Jim responded, “Then you lend him the hundred dollars!”

There is a story about a church that was having revival services. The pastor and the guest evangelist were out visiting in the community. As they entered one home, the lady of the house invited them in, asked them to be seated and said, “I will go put on the percolator.”

The evangelist quickly replied, “What you have on is fine.”

If we let our imagination go, we can “see” that Jesus must have said to people over and over and over and over: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” The reason that things appear to be repetitious in the Bible is that Jesus had to tell us what he was going to say, then say it, and then tell us again by repeating the example several times.

Someone once made an arresting observation that nature has not equipped humankind with earlids. But we compensate for nature’s oversight by developing selective listening.

I used to teach ministerial students that when they were speaking a sermon, even if the congregation is intently listening. they will only hear every third word overall. If they’re not intently listening, it goes down from there to about every seventh word.

I would often have people come to me after church and say that when I said something it changed their life. I would often ask them what I said, and they would repeat something back to me that was not in my sermon at all. It never mattered to me, as long as it helped them. Of course, the reverse is true too; people would often hear things that would disturb them that I didn’t say it all.

The word “absurd” comes from the Latin ab.-surdus meaning “absolutely deaf.” To fail to listen is to become absurd. On the other hand, obedience is from a Latin root, obaudiens, which means “to listen thoroughly.”

I once met a minister who put on his counseling business card, his name, and under his name, the word: listener. I always thought that he was well-qualified as a minister.

If you want to become loved in life by most, become a good listener.

One thing I have come to look upon as almost universal is that when a person has been deeply heard, there is some moistness in his or her eyes. It’s as though they were saying, “Thank God, somebody heard me. Somebody knows what it’s like to be me.” In such moments, I have had the fantasy of a prisoner in a dungeon, tapping out day after day a Morse code message, “Does anybody hear me? Is anybody there?” Finally, one day he hears a faint tapping which spells out “Yes.” And he is released from loneliness and has become a human being again.

POSITIVE DAILY PRAYER:

Dear God, I thank You for being with me at all times. Hold me close today, this moment, tomorrow, and in the days to come, loving Presence of God.

Be with me through the night hours and be with me through the day.
Hold Thou my hand.
Guide Thou my feet.
Comfort Thou my heart.
I trust my future in Your care.

In Jesus Christ’s name, Amen

POSITIVE DAILY AFFIRMATION: I Listen More. I hear what others are saying, and I care.

POSITIVE DAILY QUOTE: “Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do.”
John Wooden

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GOD BLESS YOU,
Christopher Ian Chenoweth