Sign up for our free newsletter:

Key Bible Verse: "Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you" (Luke 9:44, NIV). Bonus Reading: Mark 4:22–24

The best way to show someone that you love them is to listen to them," my dear friend Bill Lane told me once on an unforgettable walk we took around the campus. I was agonizing over my future wife, Susan, who, at that point, was giving me little or no reason for hoping that my affections would ever be returned. Out of my own impatience, I was preparing for a "showdown" with her, a confrontation that would have surely destroyed the fragile relationship we had. I would talk and talk and talk—and she would listen, I hoped, and agree.

"If you really want to show her you love her," Bill said with his characteristic intensity, "listen to her." He reminded me how Jesus was forever saying, "He who has ears, let him hear."

At the end of our walk that day Bill had convinced me. I sought from that point on to begin a lifestyle of listening, first listening to Susan and then to our children, Katie, Will, Nathan, and Maggie. As I seek to listen to the ones I care the most about, they consistently say they feel loved in the process. And in return I come to know them in ways I could only have dreamed about otherwise.

—Michael Card in The Walk

My Response: Does my listening make my family feel loved?

Thought to Apply: Our age is a dialogue of the deaf, so you must develop a lifestyle of listening. —Bill Lane (college professor who mentored Michael Card)

Adapted from The Walk (Nelson, 2000) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, help me to honor You in the way I communicate—both on the giving and receiving ends.

				Try an Issue of Men of Integrity Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Men of Integrity coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Men of Integrity as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

FREE Newsletter Sign up for the Men of Integrity Newsletter    RSS Feed   RSS Help