One of my most important discoveries years ago:
the word 'listen' (and its variants) appeared thousand times more than the word 'love' in the Bible. Listen = 12, 158
Love = 1, 341
No, I am not saying that listening is more important than loving. The message is that God Himself wants us to know that we could not truly love without listening. Listening is loving.
And yet, listening is the most neglected part of our human interaction. People would rather talk about themselves than listen. They hear without listening.
Only a secured and loved person could truly listen. God wants us to listen to Him and be secured in His love. In fact, the highest form of prayer consists of listening. That's what contemplation is all about. We don't do anything, we don't ask for anything. Prayer is listening with our whole being. We sit still and listen. “Cessate et cognoscite quoniam ego sum Deus…” ~ "Be still and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10.
photo: paulm's @ flickr
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