{"id":11621,"date":"2021-02-24T17:30:24","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T23:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/?p=11621"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:37:16","slug":"listening-as-a-radical-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/2021\/02\/24\/listening-as-a-radical-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Listening as a Radical Act"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Years ago, I sat before my friend after a particularly hard week and said, “I don’t know if I can take this anymore.” I was thinking that I didn’t deserve to live anymore. He looked at me and didn’t try to talk away the pain. He listened. And all he said in reply was, \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That single sentence, that listening presence, changed my life. I finally felt heard. I didn\u2019t have to prove to others the pain I felt, it was recognized. And with those two simple two words, I started down the path to loving myself again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During my long journey with depression the listening presence of my friends, family, and support team made all the difference. Like Job\u2019s friends who simply sit with him in his sorrorw for a week before any words are said (Job 2:13), sometimes listening is the best response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today I am a professional listener. Several years ago, I completed a three-year training program<\/a> to become a spiritual director. Learning about listening was deeply transformational; we learned a new way to be in the world. In this world full of fierce debating and social media echo chambers, where everyone seems to be shouting louder than the last, we learned the radical act of opening our hearts and putting aside our own views to hear how the Spirit is moving beneath the words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am truly convinced that in today\u2019s world, listening is a radical act. The pause, the silence, the acknowledgment that another person\u2019s story is true can truly change the world. I hear so many people today trying to listen as never before. I hear people trying to stretch out beyond the stark political divide that is scarring so many American families today and trying to reach out with the ear of the heart instead of the mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, as a spiritual director, I open myself to the heart of people\u2019s story. I walk with them. Spiritual direction is not just about the soul or religion. We listen for the holy in the ordinary, for how Spirit shows up in daily life, relationships, work, hobbies, the real place where the rubber hits the road as we each try to live authentic lives of love. It is in the ordinary that the real messiness of this gospel life with Jesus shows up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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