Matthew 11:15“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Few people noticed her. She was a tiny thing, so quiet that she could sit in our classes day after day without being seen. Few people noticed when she began to wear a jacket even on warm days. We assumed she was expecting a child. We were right. So when she missed a few days of school, again we made the correct assumption that her baby had arrived. This young girl, in her junior year of high school, returned a different person. She told us she had a baby girl, and although she was still very quiet, she smiled often. Her story was not different from many a high school girl who becomes a mother too soon. Desperately searching for love from the boy who fathers her child, she is left with a child who becomes the focus of her life. Not long after her delivery my young mother came to school without smiling. I asked her if she wanted to talk. She did. On that day I listened to one of the most heartbreaking stories I had heard in my years of teaching. Her baby had died and her heart was broken. However, her family was relieved because the additional financial stress this baby had placed on the family was removed. She was told to get on with her life, and she was not allowed to grieve the loss of her child. We cried together that day. All this young mother wanted was to talk about how much she had loved her baby. All she needed was for someone to listen.
I had already become aware of the need high school students had for someone to listen.
A recommended assignment for students in my psychology classes was to write a brief paper on the one most important person or event affecting their lives. Was I in for a shock! Stories and events flowed onto these pages from young people who needed desperately to tell their stories. Broken families, divorces, abusive parents, feelings of being unloved . . . the list went on and on. They wanted unlimited space to answer, and most importantly they wanted someone to listen. Their papers were not graded, they were not mandatory nor were they shared with anyone. I heard the good, the bad, and the ugly. I was not there to judge. I was there to listen.
My faith journey has many a bump in the road. I struggle constantly with the need to talk less and listen more. In a world that prides itself on the speed and range of communication we rarely take time to listen to one another. School shootings and violent crime sprees have become all too common today. Maybe if someone had listened to these troubled youths the tragedies could have been avoided. Listening is often the only thing needed to help someone who is trapped in what they believe is a hopeless existence. Why are we so unwilling to listen? As we enter this Advent season I pray that God will help all of us become better listeners.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, in the midst of this holiday rush and noise keep us reminded of the need to listen more and to talk less. Give us patience and understanding as we learn to listen with our hearts as well as our ears, and the grace needed to love unconditionally. Amen.
Bobbi Marino