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“Listening intently.”

A thought by Max Lucado from his book, How Happiness Happens (p. 22). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

I did that this morning.  It messed up my routine, but I needed to stop during my walk and let a guy I wave to every morning stop and tell me his story.  And Jesus did that.

Max said, “A desperate woman once came to see Jesus. She was out of doctors, money, and hope. But worst of all she was out of friends. Her sickness rendered her ceremonially unclean, cut off from her family and any house of worship. For more than a decade she’d been ostracized from people. Then Jesus came to town. He was on his way to treat the daughter of the synagogue leader. The crowd was thick, and people were pushing, but she was desperate. Threading her arm through the crowd, she reached the hem of his garment. And when she touched the hem of him, the bleeding stopped. ‘“Who touched me?’” Jesus asked’ (Luke 8:45 NIV). The woman shrank back. A dozen years of rejections had made her wary of attention. But Jesus said again that someone had touched him. And this time she spoke up. ‘She came shaking with fear and knelt down in front of Jesus. Then she told him the whole story’ (Mark 5:33 CEV).”

“The whole story! How long had it been since someone had listened to her story? Jesus took time to hear her speak. He had reason not to do so. The crowd was waiting, the city leaders were standing, a girl was dying, people were pressing, the disciples were questioning, but Jesus? He was listening. He stopped what he was doing, and he listened. He didn’t have to. Healing the affliction would have been enough. Enough for her. Enough for the crowds. But not enough for Jesus. He wanted to do more than heal her body. He wanted to hear her story. The miracle restored her health. The listening restored her dignity. And what he did next, the woman never forgot. He affirmed her. He called her ‘daughter.’ This is the only time in the Gospels that he called a woman by that name. ‘Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace’ (Luke 8:48).”

Max goes on, “Do this for someone. Ask someone to tell you his—or her—story. Resist the urge to interrupt or correct. Turn off the television. Log off from the internet. Close your laptop; silence your cell phone. Give the rarest of gifts: your full attention.”

Maybe that is what you need, you need to have someone give you their full attention.  Maybe the first step is to reach out and listen intently to them and then see what happens.  Let’s give our full attention to someone today, ok? 

Yes, yes!
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