I heard him say it.  I just wasn’t listening.  Well, I was listening, but I wasn’t hearing.

Wait!  That’s not right, is it?  How would I hear, but not be listening, and at the same time have the inverse of that be true?

Maybe I could simply tell you what occurred and let you decide.  If you’re listening, that is.

My friends and I had talked about many things that day.  I really don’t remember what we were discussing at the moment the statement was made.  It doesn’t matter.  Not really.

“This is the reason I don’t go to Bible studies anymore.”

Not one of us caught it.  It was probably because a couple of other voices said words simultaneously.

We said goodbye soon thereafter.  Nobody said a word about what he had blurted out.

I was in the car driving home when the words came back to me, and I caught myself thinking, “I wonder what he meant by that?”

I played back the words a hundred times in my head over the next week.  I wondered if I had reverted to my old argumentative ways and was the reason for his unhappiness.

When I saw him again, I asked him.  And, I listened to his answer.  I did.

I think we may say things a little differently from now on.  We don’t ever want that sentiment to grow from the scope of bygone Bible studies to include get-togethers with friends.  I don’t think it would with this friend, but why would we take the chance?

Friends listen to each other.  And sometimes, they change how they interact with each other.

He’s not mad at anyone.  We didn’t do irreparable harm.

This time.

Again and again, the Teacher ended His little life-lessons with the words, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 11:15, Mark 4:9, 23)

I have ears.  Arguably, they don’t function as well as they once did, but I have ears to hear.

And yet, I miss the message.  Again and again, I miss it.

In recent years, we’ve begun to use the phrase “tone deaf”, meaning that someone is insensitive to the undercurrents in a conversation.  Hearing the words, but not understanding what is actually being said.

Guilty.

I am.  Tone deaf.

Again and again.

I want to hear the people in my life.  It may be that relationships depend on it.  Perhaps, even someone’s life.

I want to hear the voice of the Teacher, too.  Even more depends upon that.

I’m listening.  Again.

Maybe we could all do that.

All ears.

Hearing.

 

“Maybe I was absent, or was listening too fast.
Catching all the words, but then the meaning going past.”
(from Aubrey, by David Gates & Bread)

So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed. 
(1 Samuel 3:9, NLT)

 

© Paul Phillips. He’s Taken Leave. 2025. All Rights Reserved.