I was watching a storm roll in this weekend. I love impending storms. So I stepped outside onto our screened-in porch and gazed up at the roiling sky. It was a strange confluence of events ... it was raining, dark clouds were flying past, and the sun was peeking out, all at the same time. […]

A few more great thoughts and insights from Adam McHugh on listening to people in pain ... McHugh writes about how a colleague of his was headed to visit someone in the hospital and announced, "Time to speak some truth." McHugh says, "This idea prevails in many Christian circles, that preaching is the healing balm […]

Adam McHugh's book "The Listening Life" is an incredible read; life-changing to tell the truth. His chapter on listening to people in pain is worth the price of the entire book. A few excerpts for you to ponder today: "Few things shut down a person in pain faster than quoting the Bible at them ... […]

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said this: "Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking when they should be listening."  

The years of all of us are short, our lives precarious. Our days and nights go hurrying on, and there is scarcely time to do the little we might. Yet we find time for bitterness, for petty treason and evasion. What can we do to stretch our hearts enough to lose their littleness? Here we […]

What, there's more? More than one way to be narcissistic in our listening? Yup. We can actively try to turn conversations to ourselves - this is active conversational narcissism. But we can also passively refuse to really listen to another human being. This is how Charles Derber describes it: "Passive conversational narcissism entails neglect of […]