Please Listen
When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving me advice - You have not done
what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that
way - You are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my
problem - You have failed me,
Strange as that may seem. Listen! All I ask is that you listen. Don’t talk or do –
just hear me. Advice is cheap; 20 cents will get you both Dear Abby and Billy
Graham in the same newspaper.
And I can do for myself; I am not helpless. Maybe discouraged and faltering - but
not helpless.
When you do something for me that I can and need to do for myself - you
contribute to my fear and inadequacy.
But when you accept as a simple fact that I feel what I feel, no matter how
irrational - then I can stop trying to convince you and get about this business
of understanding what’s behind this irrational feeling.
And when that’s clear, the answers are obvious and I don’t need advice. Irrational
feelings make sense when we understand what’s behind them.
Perhaps that’s why prayer works, sometimes, for some people – because God is
mute, and he doesn’t give advice or try to fix things. God just listens and lets you
work it out for yourself.
So please listen, and just hear me, and if you want to talk, wait a minute for your
turn – and I will listen to you.
SONG: “Wanna Talk About Me” – Toby Keith
When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving me advice - You have not done
what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that
way - You are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my
problem - You have failed me,
Strange as that may seem. Listen! All I ask is that you listen. Don’t talk or do –
just hear me. Advice is cheap; 20 cents will get you both Dear Abby and Billy
Graham in the same newspaper.
And I can do for myself; I am not helpless. Maybe discouraged and faltering - but
not helpless.
When you do something for me that I can and need to do for myself - you
contribute to my fear and inadequacy.
But when you accept as a simple fact that I feel what I feel, no matter how
irrational - then I can stop trying to convince you and get about this business
of understanding what’s behind this irrational feeling.
And when that’s clear, the answers are obvious and I don’t need advice. Irrational
feelings make sense when we understand what’s behind them.
Perhaps that’s why prayer works, sometimes, for some people – because God is
mute, and he doesn’t give advice or try to fix things. God just listens and lets you
work it out for yourself.
So please listen, and just hear me, and if you want to talk, wait a minute for your
turn – and I will listen to you.
SONG: “Wanna Talk About Me” – Toby Keith