REFLECTION - ARE YOU A GOOD LISTENER?

Do you hunger for God's words?

How good are you at listening, especially for the words of God? God is always ready to speak to each of us and give us understanding of His words. There are different ways of accepting God's words and they produce different kinds of fruits accordingly. There is the prejudiced hearer, who has a shut mind. Such a person is unteachable and blind to the things of God. Then, there is the shallow hearer, who fails to think things out or think them through; such a person lacks spiritual depth. They may initially respond with an emotional fervor; but when it wears off, their mind wanders to something else. Another type of hearer is the person, who has many interests or cares, but who lacks the ability to hear or comprehend what is truly important. Such a person is forever too busy to pray or too preoccupied to study and meditate on God's words. He or she may work so hard that they are too tired to even think of anything else but their work. Then there is the one whose mind is open. Such a person is at all times willing to listen and to learn. They listen in order to understand. God gives grace to those who hunger for His word that they may understand His will and have the strength to live according to it.