\u201cYou may be dying, but you should hear what\u2019s happening to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, enough about me, what do you think about me?\u201d<\/p>\n
People don\u2019t really say that kind of thing, do they?\u00a0 Actually, yes, they often do.<\/p>\n
Maybe not in so many words.\u00a0 But, if you listen to the shape of many conversations, you will often find that someone threw out a lifeline, looked for hope, searched for a friend, or tried to get to the bottom of something that was troubling them, and all they got in return was competition for the Misery Sweepstakes: \u201cYou think you\u2019ve got it bad, I\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Far too many conversations are not really conversations at all.\u00a0 They are alternating soliloquies \u2014each person poised to say what they were going to say, regardless of what was just said.\u00a0 Among people swapping stories about grandchildren, airline travel, or the fish that got away that\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing.\u00a0 But when the subject is serious or someone is desperate, that\u2019s another matter.<\/p>\n
When someone is in pain, listening to others, drawing them out, and walking with them through life\u2019s messiness and puzzles is a spiritual discipline and a gift.\u00a0 And it is usually a gift to both parties.<\/p>\n
Yes, it requires setting aside our own concerns for a moment.\u00a0 It requires that we trust our own fears to God\u2019s care while we stand along side someone else who might be afraid.\u00a0 And, frankly, it requires denying ourselves.\u00a0 (I\u2019ve heard that phrase somewhere before.)\u00a0 But when we do, others are helped and so are we.<\/p>\n
Out of that gift of listening, caring, asking questions, and sitting with one another\u2019s pain arises spiritual wisdom and a sense of God\u2019s presence.\u00a0 The results are not always dramatic.\u00a0 Lightening doesn\u2019t always strike.\u00a0 Angels don\u2019t always sing.\u00a0 But none of that needs to happen for us to give that gift.<\/p>\n
And it always beats winning the misery sweepstakes.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cYou may be dying, but you should hear what\u2019s happening to me.\u201d \u201cWell, enough about me, what do you think about me?\u201d People don\u2019t really say that kind of thing, do they?\u00a0 Actually, yes, they often do. Maybe not in so many words.\u00a0 But, if you listen to the shape of many conversations, you will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-relationships"],"yoast_head":"\n