Collective

I sat in front of my laptop, really pondering about this article, for some reason the emotion living in my heart did not want to shape into words to justify the wrong that I found in thinking about this.
When is the last time that you were really heard? That you experienced someone listening to you with heart, ears, eyes and body? When is the last time you really felt, I have said what I wanted to say. When is the last time you spoke back in response to what someone said and not in self-defense or ambushing someone to collect the ammunition for the next round.
We have friends we carry around with us daily yours might be rejection, mine is certainly the fear of failure. My friend became my advisor for most of my life; it taught me how to think and how to respond. My friend helped me to build walls in defense and to communicate in the battlefield I created.
Why are we so afraid to listen to others and why are we so eager to embrace the voice of your so called friends living in our heads shaped by the paradigms of society?
Noise is all around us.
Visual: The cover of a magazine communicates and I listen, I look at the airbrushed, photo-shop edited model and I listen to the well acquainted friend called rejection.
Verbal: Think about the Maybeline adds… ”Maybe she is born with it…maybe it is Maybeline”
Audio: (“I am a slave for you” by Britney Spears.) Reading this what did you hear and who taught you to listen and perceive in the way you did?
The world we live in communicate to us daily. There is never a moment of silence. Since the day you were born the very first message you received was that you can be better, more beautiful, thinner and successful. Most of us were not trained in listening to the message that is communicated and became friends with the voice that stood up in our inner being the very first time you understood the message of “not good enough” that was conveyed to you.
How do you listen? Do you listen out of an identity that was born out of the heart of the Father? Do you listen with the heartbeat of a daughter knowing that He has a plan and a purpose and a divine appointment with your hurt, suffering and anger? Do you listen with a picture of a true Father that is marveled by the works of His hands?
I challenged myself to start listening in this manner to girls I meet on a daily basis, knowing that somewhere between the layers of confusion there is beauty. Beauty unfading. I challenge myself to listen with my inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in a hopeless and deprived generation’s sight. I challenge myself to listen with heart, body and eyes. Because somewhere between all the hurt and the walls of self-defense, there is an unfading beauty. Somewhere beyond the battlefield of words there is a dove with a broken wing, waiting for healing and to take of in flight. Over and above your pride I listen to the wound that you want to cover by embarrassing me. In the` leaves of your salad I listen to your hungry soul crying out to be nourished.
The next time you listen to your girlfriends or some girl you just met I challenge you to really listen. What is this that she is conveying? Stop acting in self-defense. Listen with your heart, eyes and body. Communicate a message of love, hope, acceptance and understanding. Reach out to the untouched and communicate back all that was stolen.
I leave you with this message….Proverbs 18:21 “The tongue(communication, listening) has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit”
May you gossip the secret kept for ages “Isaiah 54:4-5- Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your Maker is your husband- the LORD Almighty is HIS name- the HOLY One of Israel is your REDEEMER; He is called the GOD of all the earth.”