Make him drink!

“You can lead horse to water but you just can’t hold his head down and force him to drink.”

I’m chuckling here, because often it is just like in this photo,  you actually have to carry the darn horse to the water source, and he still won’t drink.

Another way to say that is, people who don’t want to hear you won’t be able to listen.

I go back and forth on this issue, frolicking somewhere between, “Stop trying to talk to people whose ears aren’t working, you moron,” to “C’mon you can do it, just try one more time. I have chocolates….”

Sigh. There’s no right or wrong here, it just takes discernment and every situation is different. But I do want to put in a good word for listening skills. God gave us two ears for a reason. Putting our fingers in them and going, “na na na” is childish.

What people need more than anything else in the world is to be heard. A willing ear. It is more important then sound advice and good theology.  90% of the time if you just listen to people, make them feel heard, they will solve their own problems. True story!

Absolutely no agreement is required at all! You can disagree with someone six ways past Sunday and still make them feel heard, acknowledged, and their existence validated. Not their opinions validated, just their existence. We honor people by making them feel heard. It says, you are worthy.

Worthy of what? Worthy of being heard. I don’t really understand it all, but I do know that we honor people by helping them to feel heard. Far too many of us have an answer, before we’ve even heard the question. It can be especially dreadful on the internet. The internet is just plumb full of conversations in which nobody is even trying to listen.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com