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Key Bible Verse: Ears to hear and eyes to see—both are gifts from the Lord (Proverbs 20:12). Bonus Reading:Mark 8:18

Quietness encourages conversation. If you want to listen to what your children are saying, you need enough quiet to hear them. Some of this deafening noise is in our environment; a lot of it is in our own heads.

Turn down the noise by removing physical distractions. When you're attempting to listen to someone, you need to be able, first, to actually hear the words they're saying; and second, to concentrate on those words. So when your children approach you with something to say, it just makes good sense to get up and turn off the TV, stereo, air compressor, or whatever is making noise. Clearing out distractions also means setting aside the magazine you're reading or putting down the project you're working on. You're free to listen.

If I asked you, "What's more important to you—that tv program you're watching or your children?" your answer would be a quick and sure: "My kids." But our children watch our eyes flit back to the screen, they hear us ask, "What did you say?" and they conclude, however mistakenly, that they're not as important to us as that pitchman on the tube trying to sell us a Chrysler Cordoba.

—Ken Canfield in The 7 Secrets of Effective Fathers

My Response: What tends to crowd out interaction in my home?

Thought to Apply: To do all the talking and not be willing to listen is a form of greed.

—Democritus (Greek philosopher)

Adapted from The 7 Secrets of Effective Fathers (Tyndale, 1992) by permission.

Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

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

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