Though we have an increased desire to be heard through all kinds of networks and media, we at the same time suffer from a diminished ability to listen.  For us to listen, we must set ourselves aside, and truly desire to be  fully present for another.  We need to allow them to speak and to be understood without us interjecting our own needs and agendas.  The tools to listen can be acquired, but putting ourselves aside for the moment and being fully present can be difficult.

     Our increased isolation from one another and the increased pressures of life add to this difficulty.  Our listening skills need to be practiced, and in the practicing, become more finely tuned.  Our desires to be open and available, need to be transformed as well.

     It is not just with people that we have lost our abilities to listen.  The same issues that we have that hinder us with others, hinder us with God as well.  Being fully present and putting aside agendas, etc., is a struggle that we contend with daily when it comes to our time with God.

     To begin to grow in real relationship with God, we need both to be fully present and have full disclosure.  We need to be there, the good, the bad, and the ugly, parts of us.  We need to be open to hear from the other.  For us that means depending upon the Holy Spirit.  It means time spent in the Word and in much prayer.  It means to respond to what God is saying to us as well.  In scripture, the words used for “listening” include acting on what is said. 

     Listening to God requires noticing him in our everyday, both in the big things and in the small.  Even though life can squeeze in on us at times, we still need those times of solitude and silence.  We still need to take time to appreciate creation and be grateful for all that God has done and is doing.  When I think of life squeezing in, and listening, I am reminded of Elijah in I Kings 19.  Elijah was afraid and yet took the time to listen and respond to the Holy.  He looked for God in the big things and the small, and found him in the small.  If we depend upon the Holy Spirit, no matter what the circumstance, we can still be fully present, listen, and respond to the one who calls us.