The Joy of Listening!

Today I was thinking about a story I read a long time ago about Mother Teresa. She was perhaps the most giving and maybe the least understood women in her time. She gave everything she was, everything she had, and everything she knew to God. She cared more about the poor than she did about her own needs. Who in our world today can we say does that? Are there any sports stars, politicans, or philosophers out there who would take care of lepers?
In the story I was thinking about, Mother Teresa was being interviewed. The interviewer asked her what did she say to God when she was praying?
"I don't say anything," she replied. "I just listen."
So the interviewer asked her what God says to her? "He doesn't say anything," she replied. I just listen."
Before the interviewer could go any further she said to him, "And if you don't understand that, I can't explain it to you!"
It doesn't matter whether we believe in God, Buddha, or any higher power the same principle applies. We need quiet time for ourselves, and we can share that with others. When someone is telling us about their experience we can simply listen to them lovingly and openly. Doing this will give us more gifts than we could ever imagine. We will also be giving other's joy too.
What would happen in all of our interactions with people if we just spent more time listening. How much better would our world be if people spent more time listening--really listening deeply listening to each other--rather than yelling and fighting. We wouldn't need therapists, politicians, religous people, police. Maybe the world was not ready for John Lennon to imagine that world where everyone can live together, or where Martin Luther King Jr. Had a Dream.
Maybe today is the time for radical change in our world, even if it is only in our homes. Let's dare to listen to one another and have the courage to be change agents that makes 2012 a year of hope and profound joy.
Peace.