If ever we needed this encouragement, it is now. We, as a culture, have become bad at listening to each other. It is almost as if we believe the person who speaks first, who speaks the loudest, or who speaks with the most authority is the one who wins the point. What we fail to realize, though, is that our common life together isn’t a competition. We are on the same team. We all want what is best for our world and for the people who are in it. We may have different ideas about how to get there, but the goal is the same.
Can you imagine how much more progress we would make towards understanding and healing if we would just take this passage seriously? Can you image the ways we could work together towards a more hopeful future for our young people if we would just “practice the pause”? This means when someone is speaking you listen carefully. You wait to formulate your response until after you have heard everything they have to say. Before you respond, you consider a few things: How is my response going to land with the person to whom I am speaking? How is it going to affect our ability to communicate moving forward? Will my response be helpful? Will it inhibit growth or will it encourage it? Will my response bring harm to this person or to our relationship? By the way, these are the same questions we should be asking ourselves before we click “share,” “post,” or “send.”
Today, commit yourself to “practicing the pause” in any conversations you may have.