Tag: Listening

A very successful businessman inadvertently taught me a lesson about paying attention to other people’s needs … with macaroni and cheese.

We make our plans but they often go in much different ways. The key is how we respond to life’s challenges. Do we complain and moan? I often do. The challenge is to see beyond the circumstances and see the golden nuggets in the midst of our trials.

Foreigners often have access to hearts that are afraid to open up to friends, family, and even church members. May God help us all to be “quick to hear” and “slow to speak,” (James 1:19), that we may better express the love of God, who invites us to “pour out [our] heart before Him” (Psalm 62:8).

Bats and owls have the best hearing in the animal kingdom. They can hear, but if they are not listening and paying attention they will go to bed without their dinner. Listening is deciding that the other person is important, and what that important person is saying is more important than what you are doing. Listening, coupled with periods of reflection, is essential to the growth and well-being of the servant-leader as well as the organization.