Hearing with Love Changes Everything

Wednesday Wisdom. Hearing with Love.

When we really listen, sounds wash over us. Cries and whispers. The wind howling. The slam of a door. Ocean waves crashing onto the beach. In the stretched out sound of silence, a heart beats, salt pours from its shaker, a hand takes another hand into its grasp.

Held in this constant vibration of sound, I listen for the holy and the sacred in every note, in every pulse and pause, becoming attentive to its presence in the open field of my heart. I sense what I can’t find words for; I touch what so quickly evaporates. I’ve discovered that God needs room to be heard and that my soul needs room to hear what is in the lining of my being. Hush, I remind myself, listen to the thin soles of the ballet shoes crossing the wooden floor.

How often have I missed hearing the bird song outside my window as I dressed and fixed my breakfast? As I packed my satchel and headed for the door? Yet, that does not mean the birds weren’t singing. I have come to trust that the heart is always listening, for it knows the way of listening—even when my mind and body aren’t paying attention or won’t fully settle down. My heart listens to what is stirring in me, listening from inside to what I cannot know without Divine presence.

I have learned to sit patiently; giving myself to God—my thoughts, my feelings, my lack of skill. I sit in prayer, opening my heart, for the heart is the master. Hearing with love changes everything. Hearing with God’s love touches everything.

Practice

  • I invite you this week, to listen with “the ears of your heart.”
  • Notice how listening with love changes the way you hear.