Listen. Listen quickly

He says,

“Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalm 46:10

 

To be heard lends validity to our lives.  Knowing someone is inherent in listening to them.  Being known requires being heard.  We all, at times, are so intent on ourselves that we forget to really listen to one another.  We are a society that defines itself in status updates, tweets, and very reflexive forms of communication.  It is all give, and no take.  And along the way, we are slowly losing the ability to know other people, to truly know them.  And in that, we are also letting go of the possibility of being truly known. 

I am grateful for the words constantly bestowed on me: “Mommy, let me tell you…”  “Mommy, listen to this…”  Because, I fear, they won’t always be so open.  The hours of lectures, decades, eons of knowledge laid before me as a feast; one of which so few like me are privileged to partake.  The stories cautiously handed to me, delicate and shuddering, wrapped in layers of hesitancy, precious and encumbering.  Narratives too weighty too foul, to pick up, lest they leave their residue on me.  Advice, ladled onto my soul with love; warmth for what’s been out in the cold too long.

But there are times when I just need to be heard.  To speak the words pent up in my spirit.  Unfetter my heart and invite someone in; to hand them the ugly parts, the pieces of me that need help, healing, and even gentle rebuke.  The need arises, molten and overtaking, to tell someone my dreams, my hopes, the deepest desires of my heart, of which only Jesus has been privy to.  In essence, to let someone really know me.  To give a testament of how God is moving in my life, smoothing the rough edges and sharpening the facets, – Right Now.

I just needed to speak the words; they were trying so desperately to escape me.  I needed to tell someone what I was feeling, what I’d been experiencing.   She heard me.  She knew me, in those words.  She allowed me to be known; and, as always, she pointed me to Christ.  She is radiant because He shines through her.  He has taught her to listen, because she has heard Him.  She listens, invoking my existence; so I may return to my quiet witness of other lives.  I am known, because she is willing to listen.

She listened, though not quickly.  And she didn’t judge.  She won’t even mind that this blog is about her, the title coming from a cartoon butterfly…

I pray you have someone like this in your life; that you are someone like this.  Listen.  Really listen, and find a kindred spirit.