Listening (1)

Here's a story from 10/17 because JadedCM brings up a critical issue. Actually, it probably wasn't intentional on his part, but this is where my head went!

Katherine Paterson (in The Invisible Child) told an interesting story about speaking at a conference in the Pacific or Southeast Asia. The conference was a book/literature related conference. After realizing the first night just how these people valued oral tradition she felt abit out of place pushing the written word. But when she spoke to the audience at the end of the week, she experienced something she'd never experienced before. She experienced the facinating, magical experience of speaking to 1000's of people who had mastered the art of listening. You'll have to read it in her book. She tells it better.

When I read Jade's post it amazed me that it took a researcher to hear and record what these kids are saying. Was no one else listening? Where are the people who spend endless hours each week with children? Why are we not hearing these things? Now, maybe, publishing companies are just beginning to publish books like this recognizing the needs of a new generation of teachers, a new generation of children and the dramatic shifts in our culture.

But connecting with children (or any generation for that matter), may be more in the listening and hearing than in all the other things we do ... not hearing what you want to hear or what you think you hear but listening to the heart of what someone is really saying. I'm feeling like a horrible listener right now. My kids tell me I'm a good listener but rarely is my brain quiet and still when someone's talking to me. I'm trying to teach my eyes and my ears to hear but rarely does my brain stop and shift gears to devote all its energy to listen and hear. It's in those rare moments when my brain stops to listen that my heart hears. Mental multi-tasking isn't really listening!

Parents, teachers, older siblings, aunts, uncles, friends ... I don't even know how to blog about it except to say we serve a God who listens and hears. Thankfully, he's a willing teacher, too!