Now that we have covered the importance of transparency, we move on to the importance of listening in understanding one another. In James 1:19 we read ‘Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.’
Many people want nothing more than someone to care enough to listen to them.
To be listened to and understood is important to one’s well-being.
‘It is impossible to overemphasize the immense need humans have to be really listened to, to be taken seriously, to be understood. No one can develop freely in this world without being understood by at least one other person.’
‘It is impossible to overemphasize the immense need humans have to be really listened to, to be taken seriously, to be understood. No one can develop freely in this world without being understood by at least one other person.’
A poor listener exhibits habits that suppress communication and create misunderstanding.
We can fake listening. A friend of ours caught her husband out when she noticed that he was faking while ‘listening’ to her. She suddenly threw in a statement like “and then I told her that I was going to leave you and run off with another man”, it took quite a while for him to register…
We can be selective in listening. In the song The Boxer, Paul Simon has a line that says, ‘a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest’. This could be true for both men and women.
A good listener will manifest an attitude of acceptance that will encourage communication, like giving focussed attention which says to your partner ‘you are my top priority’.
A good listener will also listen with an attitude of acceptance and willingness to understand. Next week we’ll talk about how to talk so that we can be understood.
Isolde studied Speech Pathology and Audiology at the University of Pretoria and taught at the same department until she and Quintus joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ in 1980.
They are so aware of God’s goodness and grace as they celebrated their 50th Anniversary in 2019. They are the parents of three children and three children-in-love! And Grandparents to 9.
Since 1996 Quintus and Isolde have been involved with FamilyLife, the marriage and family strategy of Campus Crusade for Christ.
Isolde studied Speech Pathology and Audiology at the University of Pretoria and taught at the same department until she and Quintus joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ in 1980.
They are so aware of God’s goodness and grace as they celebrated their 50th Anniversary in 2019. They are the parents of three children and three children-in-love! And Grandparents to 9.
Since 1996 Quintus and Isolde have been involved with FamilyLife, the marriage and family strategy of Campus Crusade for Christ.
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