Listening or Hearing?

I have been struggling with semantics for a while.  It used to be that my husband and I could complete each others thoughts.  But there have been times though out our marriage that we are just out of sync with one another.  We can be talking about the exact same thing, but saying it differently and we both end up frustrated because we don't see it at the time.  It usually takes a few hours to figure out that we were saying the same thing, just differently.

I read a post in my cancer support group about words that a doctor used.  Although the doctor thought he was saying the appropriate thing, the wording made it very uncomfortable for the patient.  He was trying to say the drugs she had taken in the past did not work for her, but the wording came out as though the patient was the problem, not that the drug didn't work.  As a cancer patient, I know that if I am taking a drug as prescribed and it doesn't work, that is NOT my fault.  It is not even the drugs' fault.  It is just that the two were not compatible.  Not unlike a relationship where it seems people are right for one another, but it just doesn't work out.  No one's fault.  Just not a good fit.

Last night was one of those episodes with my husband where we were saying the same thing just in COMPLETELY different ways.  I was frustrated because it seemed like he was not listening to what I was saying, he was frustrated because it was technology related and he really doesn't like to talk about technology.  He is what I like to call technology challenged.  He does not do much on a computer other than games and email.  If he has to create a document it is outside his comfort zone.  And don't get me started with the smart phones.  In his opinion, they aren't all that smart because a programmer doesn't think like him.
Last night I realized, a little later than I should have, that we were having one of those conversations.  Instead of calmly stopping and saying that we were talking about the same thing, I let it continue on and get frustrated.

So I am working through, in my head and on this blog, a new goal to actually take the time to HEAR what someone says.  Many of us just listen, but we don't hear what the other person is saying.  I have a feeling it is that same way with God.  We listen, but we don't hear what He is saying.  If we could learn to Hear the words of others there might just be a little less frustration in the world.

So slow down, HEAR what people around you are saying.  You might just learn something new.