Skip to main content

Do You Hear What I Hear?

 

"There's a lot of difference between listening and hearing." ~ G.K. Chesterton

🎵 I love this season - it offers so many opportunities to interact with people on different levels.  For those people we see everyday, it gives us a chance to let them know how much they are appreciated.  

🎵Some we see once a year, and it gives us a chance to reconnect.

🎵 Some we've never seen before and might not even meet, but it gives us the privilege of donating so they might enjoy a better Christmas.

Muppet Christmas Carol


🎵All of these encounters provide us with an opportunity - to listen.  Sure, I can be the queen of talking to every person in the room on a superficial level, sprinkled under the guise of humor or service, walking away not knowing one real thing about that person.  

But is that what Jesus wants of me?  Is that what He did?  Jesus not only listened to people's words, but He had (has) the ability to listen to hearts.  He asked questions. He took time, engaged with them, noticed and valued them.  

 If we really intentionally ask people about their lives and listen to what they say, God can use us to bless them (& us).  


🎵 I have friends that are so good at this listening skill.  It is definitely a practice that doesn't come naturally to me, and I often have to ask God to help me be intentional.  Jesus told us what comes out of our mouths proceeds from the heart (John 15:18-19).  A lot of times a lack of peace is what comes out of people's hearts.  This world is shaking them.  It can shake all of us at times.  

But how meaningful it makes our interactions with people!    And if it gives us the opportunity to convey the peace we have because of Jesus in us, then let's do it!   

🎵 One of the most famous Christmas carols we hear today is actually not as old as we think.  "Do You Hear What I Hear?" was actually written by Noel Regney and his wife Gloria Shayne during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 as a plea for peace amidst a time of incredible angst between the U.S. and Russia over nuclear missiles Russia had in Cuba.   

What's fascinating is that neither of them were Christian, yet the lyrics point to Jesus' birth and are sung today as worship. 


🎵 It seems like today we need to plea for peace.  Our world can be scary, depressing, lonely & seemingly to many without hope.  But as Christians, we know that God has already given us hope & peace- Jesus says in John 14:27-

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives 
do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." 

🎵 And in John 16:33, Jesus promises us peace when we put our trust in Him-

"I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have
 peace.  In the world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; 
I have overcome the world."

🎵 So as we meet & greet people this Christmas season, let's lean in and purposefully listen to them.  Consider that maybe your paths have crossed for a reason; ask God to let you be a blessing to them as you show them Jesus that's in you that they need to encounter right now. 


🎵 Because He brings us goodness and light.


✙ Heavenly Father, You came to earth out of pure Love for us.  You knew You would be mocked, scorned, tortured and killed but did it anyway.  You are the true Peace that we all need.  Please let us show that to others by our interactions with them-we can't do it on our own.  Guide us by Your Holy Spirit.  Amen. 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Weary World Rejoices?

  Wikipedia image "Long lay the world, in sin and ever pining, til He appeared, and the soul felt its worth.  A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices..." ~O Holy Night Rejoice. To some it may mean jumping up and down in elated happiness.  Sometimes the events of this world definitely make us want to do that.   And sometimes they don't.   How are we to "rejoice always" as 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us to do, when our world has been shaken and we don't understand why?  When we are so broken down and weary that our tears are empty? We cry out to God for help, for comfort, for peace.  I imagine Him putting one of His enormous, loving hands on our shoulder and holding us with the other, carrying us through these hellish nightmares and crying with us because sin has gotten such a hold on this world. Is this what the people of Israel did when they looked for a Savior to come in with a ferocious tenacity to conquer the evil Romans that enslaved...
3 comments
Read more

Scattered or Scatter?

  "A puppy is the ultimate distraction" ~ Philip Rosenthal, TV writer Ever sit down to check your grocery list on your phone, then start downloading digital coupons, then go to Pinterest to check the recipe and start pinning for a half hour, but start looking up whether an ingredient is high in sugar or carbs, remember to log everything you've eaten for the day in your app and get depressed because you're already at your limit and it's only 10a.m., so think that maybe you'll go exercise to burn some cals and carbs so you can eat the rest of the day, realize you don't have any workout clothes clean so start a load of laundry, notice how dusty the wood floors are on the way to the laundry room so give that a quick dry mop, then figure why stop there so dust the furniture as well, catch a glance at the clock and realize you have 15 minutes before you have to leave, so frantically fix your hair and makeup, rushing out the door wondering what happened to the mo...
2 comments
Read more

How to Fight Back the Darkness

  Crosswalk image Nothing makes Satan weak in the knees more than when we are on our knees."   ~ Skip Heitzig, Pastor Death.  Killing.  Violence.  What do we do with such heavy hearts in such a dark time? With the knot in our throats and the pit in our stomachs that are weighing on our souls?  When we look around us, nothing on this broken earth can fill our void of sadness and despair.   So we look up to the One who created all things and who alone has the power to bring light and help: "I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.   What does help look like?  When does it come?  How much will we get?  Anger, confusion, bitterness, hostility, helplessness and fear overcome us in different ways and at different times.  We want reasons- we ask, "Why, Lord, why?" We instinctively want a reckoning- someone to pay for the injustice that has happened....
2 comments
Read more