Proverbs 18:13

"He who answers before listening, that is his folly and his shame."

How many of us are guilty of this? I know I am. Many times I will try to give a response to someone without fully listening to their request. This can be very arrogant to think that we know what an individual needs just by looking at them or listening to them partially.

I want to be a better listener. I want to not just listen to someone to give a response, but truly listen to what they are saying to me without lining a response up in my head. A lot of times, I am so concerned about responding to a person's comment that I may not listen completely to their entire statement. I listen to what I want to hear and then begin tuning them out so that I can prepare my response in my head. This is a habit that I want to break quickly. Being a mother, I want to be able to listen tomy son without prejudging him and without trying to quickly solve his problems with my advice. Sometimes it is better just to listen...and this is what this proverb is instructing us to do.

Reflection:Thank you Lord for listening to me entirely when I call on you.