Sacrificial Listening

I recently ran across that term, "Sacrificial Listening", and thought, what a great concept. There are so very many people today who have NO one to listen to them. A few people, hermit types, can handle that happily, but G^d made us social creatures, and having someone listen to our theories, our hopes, even our complaints is a true Blessing.

Well, how about the “sacrificial” part. Well, as a talker, most of my listening is sacrificial, from my perspective. But, many people in this world are boring—including me. Listening is so very important, but quite often requires sacrifice, even as people patiently listen to my stories.

Sacrificial listening requires that we invite people to speak about whatever, and we actively listen, asking clarifying questions, nodding, smiling when appropriate and silently communicating that we are truly attending to their words.

We speak with much more impact, if we sacrificially listen first. We serve others by listening. We help them process their own thoughts, when we actively listen and ask good questions that help them reflect on what they are saying.

But, it does take some sacrifice on our part. And, we grow in Christ-likeness as we listen and express love to those to whom we listen sacrificially.

After all, G^d Himself sacrificially listens to us!!