When Love Comes As A Listening Ear

When Love Comes as a Listening Ear

I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

An unexpected package came in the mail on an otherwise ordinary day. I held my breath as I opened the enclosed card. It was from Alissa, a friend of mine. She said she’d remembered the story I had told months earlier of purging my closet, and how in my haste I accidentally put a necklace I had just purchased from a fair-trade company in with all the things to donate. I was so bummed—I hadn’t even had a chance to wear it. I stopped in at the secondhand store several times over the following month to see if it ever made it to the show floor, but I never found it there.

Alissa’s note said she wanted to give me something just because—and as I opened the box, I saw the exact necklace that I had lost. She worked for the jewelry company and had the same necklace, and after remembering my story, wanted me to have it.

Tears filled my eyes, not so much because of the gift—although I certainly loved the necklace—but because she remembered something I’d said from months earlier and took the time to replace what I’d lost. She had truly listened to me, and in that moment, reading her words, I felt heard and seen.

Jesus commanded us to love each other, following his example of love. This can be challenging at times, especially in our fast-paced culture, but when we put aside our own agenda and take the time to listen to another—when we make them feel like they are known—we are loving like Jesus did. It may be a simple command, but it takes practice and intentionality to do it well.

— Kendra

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Really take the time to listen to another person and affirm that you’ve heard them in some way.