Tammy Tangent

Tuesdays

Listen

Hello Beautiful!  I pray you’re having a great week so far!  It’s that time again, it’s Tammy Tangent Tuesdays!  This weekly challenge is one that requires intent and resolve to be brave enough to listen to the needs being spoken through the magical blessings received during silence.  It’s called listening. 

L – i – s – t – e -n

Do you hear what I hear?  I don’t know about you, but listening often requires a whole lot of grace along with a huge roll of duct tape!  In order to help bring unity back into our communities, we owe it to ourselves and others to stay engaged and live in the moment without adding our own preconceived notions into the conversation along with the interference that our multitasking skills are presenting.  We are missing the teardrops through the words spoken, the anger behind every pause, and the shame and guilt reflected by the bowed heads.  According to Tammy Ingram (yes, that’s me!), an important acronym to ponder for the word “listen” is:

Learning In Silence To Embrace Needs

If only we’ll lose our own agendas and listen without being engaged in our own neighborhoods (our brains), we could learn so much more through the attention of eye contact, the quivering lips, or even processing their words through the tone and animation.  When we are present in the moment and not preoccupied with other distractions that are vying for our attention, we won’t rob ourselves or the other person of valuable insight into the story lines of their hearts which reveal so much more when we are focused and silent!  What a person speaks will not only offer understanding, but the silence of our interruptions or opinions and control will announce to the other person that we care and keep the conversation fluid and not rushed!

Listening can be magical; it paints a story right before our very eyes of the hearts of those who are daring to share.  If the conversation seems to be overly critical and judgmental, let’s silence and shield our hearts and minds long enough to see through the pain before reacting to embrace the state of their soul and realize that is something self-destructing the other person.  As author Jonalyn Fincher wrote, to speak life and grace over their soul is to ask them, “Is that how you talk to yourself?”  What a merciful way to look beyond the harsh words spewing from a hurting person and to enable them to see beyond their own demons while graciously extending love and compassion.

Let’s try and engage with the people who surround and enter our worlds by remembering the benefits of listening so we can see through each others’ messes and forgo the instantaneous demands of an immediate cleanup.  This initiates the love of Christ and promotes unity!  Jesus doesn’t wait for us to clean up our lives, He loves us just the way we are.  That’s the powerful message of Romans 5:6-8 explaining why Jesus died on the cross because He knew we could not save ourselves.  Let’s remember that we are His feet and His hands and His mouth so we can bring unity back into our communities through love requiring communication gained through listening! 

I pray this weekly challenge permeates our tender hearts and souls by reminding us to just take some time in being silent as we listen for the needs being spoken!  Have a blessed week, Beautiful Beloved!

Thank You For Being Beautiful You!