Black Women Have It Going On

Good morning from Colorado! When we hear the word “listening,” most of us probably think we know exactly what it means. We hear sounds, process words, and then respond. But over the years, I’ve learned that there is a difference between hearing someone and truly listening to them. Listening isn’t waiting for someone to stop talking so we can give our opinion. It isn’t listening with the intent of getting our thoughts across. True listening requires us to set our own thoughts aside long enough to hear what the other person is actually saying.

I learned that lesson through my working years. Each job required me to learn the art of listening because I wasn’t simply speaking for myself. I was representing a company. When someone called with a problem, my responsibility was to hear what they were saying, understand what they needed, and respond appropriately. I didn’t realize how much that skill had become a part of me until one day a company president hired a consultant to work with those of us on the frontline. The consultant created a mock customer-service situation. A customer called, explained why they were upset, and we were instructed to listen carefully and then repeat the conversation without taking notes. When it was my turn, I repeated what the customer had said. As I proudly tell this story, I was the only person in the group who missed just one point the customer had shared. The company president sat there shocked and amazed. What he didn’t know was that he wasn’t watching me learn how to listen. He was watching me use something I had learned a long time ago.

You see, long before that company president ever knew my name, Betty Cheadle—the mother of actor Don Cheadle—had taught me the art of listening. At the time, I didn’t know that what I was learning in one season of my life would prove valuable in another. I certainly didn’t know that years later, someone would test that skill in front of a company president. But that’s how life works sometimes. We learn something, carry it with us, and don’t always recognize its value until the right moment comes along.

That got me thinking about my relationship with God. Am I listening to Him the same way I’ve learned to listen to people? Am I listening to understand, or am I listening while preparing my response? Am I asking God to show me His direction while I’ve already decided where I want to go? Am I so busy telling God what I need that I haven’t been quiet long enough to hear what He may be trying to tell me?

Perhaps listening to God is a skill we have to cultivate, just like listening to a customer, a child, a spouse, a friend, or a coworker. It requires patience. It requires attention. And sometimes, it requires us to put our own thoughts aside long enough to hear something we weren’t expecting.

I learned the art of listening from someone who probably had no idea how far that lesson would travel with me.

And perhaps that’s another reminder that God can use something we learned years ago for a purpose we haven’t even discovered yet.

The Takeaway for Us

1. Hearing isn’t the same as listening.
We can hear words without truly understanding what someone is trying to tell us.

2. Sometimes the lessons we learn in one season prepare us for another.
We may not understand something’s value today, but God may use it years from now.

3. Listening to God requires us to quiet our own response.
We can’t hear clearly if we’re already rehearsing what we’ll say.

The Call to Action

Today, I want you to practice listening.

Not listening so you can respond.

Not listening so you can prove your point.

Not listening so you can tell somebody what they should have done.

Just listen.

And when you spend your 15 Minutes with God today, try something different.

Instead of filling every minute with requests, spend some of that time being quiet.

Ask:

“Lord, what are You trying to show me?”

Then listen.

You may be surprised by what you hear when you stop preparing your response.

Scripture

1 Samuel 3:9 (KJV)

“Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth.”

Samuel had to learn how to recognize when God was calling him.

Maybe we do too.

15 Minutes with God

Father, teach me to listen.

Help me quiet my thoughts long enough to hear what You are saying. Give me the patience to listen to the people You place in my life without rushing to prepare my response.

Help me recognize that lessons I learned long ago may have been preparing me for something I haven’t yet grasped.

And when You speak through an unexpected person, circumstance, conversation, or moment, grant me the wisdom to recognize Your lesson.

Speak, Lord. I’m listening.

In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

I’ll see you tomorrow for another 15 Minutes with God.