Listen Up

The Listener

"For who listens to us in all the world, whether he be friend or teacher, brother or father or mother, sister or neighbor, son or ruler or servant? Does he listen, our advocate, or our husbands or wives, those who are dearest to us?

Do the stars listen, when we turn despairingly away from man, or the great winds, or the seas or the mountains? To whom can any man say- Here I am! Behold me in my nakedness, my wounds, my secret grief, my despair, my betrayal, my pain, my tongue which cannot express my sorrow, my terror, my abandonment.

Listen to me for a day - an hour! - a moment!

Lest I expire in my terrible wilderness, my lonely silence! O God, is there no one to listen?

Is there no one to listen? you ask. Ah, yes, there is one who listens, who will always listen. Hasten to Him, my friend! He waits on the hill for you.

For you alone."

Seneca

The most desperate need of man today is not a bigger car, a bigger house, a better job. It is not more associates and acquaintances. It is not more gadgets to keep him insulated from the rest of the world. It is not cell phones, ipods, palm pilots and computers. It is not entertainment...big screen televisions, stereos. It is not lights and noise and activity.

His real need, his most terrible need, his deepest desire is for someone to listen. Not as an afterthought, not while they are busy doing something else. But to sit down and really listen to what he has to say. Those thoughts and fears and dreams which come from their very soul.

We need to tell someone what we think when we are trying to fiugre out why we were born, what our purpose is, what our legacy will be. And we need responses that come from the heart rather than the latest self-help best seller. We need someone to just try to understand....to listen.

I am sure that you have done a lot of talking today....your parents, your kids, your wives and husbands, your friends, your bosses, your co-workers. We have done a lot of talking but have we really listened?

Who have you listened to today? Whose burden have you offered to take up?

Who have you listened to today? Really listened, with patience and kindness, not while you were waiting to do something else, not while you were waiting on your turn to talk.

We were born with a need to express ourselves without fear. We were also born with a need to be heard, truly heard.

Who have you heard today?

Better yet, who have you listened to?

Peace alllll...............