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Sam - July 7

Pv 18:2,13
“Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions.”
“To answer before listening— that is folly and shame.”

Listening before I speak. Another principle I have actually been working on in my own life. One of the ways I used to hurt Anna a lot when we first got married was by interrupting her when she is speaking. I used to defend myself saying “I’m just excited and want to get out what I have to say.” Or “if I don’t say it right now I’m going to forget what I want to say”
But through many fights and tears I realized there is no excuse for not listening to a person completely before I speak.

Even in my conversations with others, it has helped me build better relationships and do better business when I’ve trained myself to listen before speaking.

Tim Keller’s devotional says the root problem of prejudice is the inability to really listen and understand each person for who they are as an individual. Instead people are quick to categorize others by superficial things. I never thought about listening as a fundamental problem to prejudice. But I do think this could help us as a nation take steps towards understanding others.

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