By Kelly Carr

Listening is one of my favorite hobbies. I’m not even kidding. I love stories, and everyone has a story.

I tend to ask questions of others. Sometimes the conversations eke along slowly when their answers are short or people are reserved and don’t want to talk much about themselves. But I like it when I figure out that one topic when people’s faces suddenly light up. I see that I’ve unearthed their passion. “Tell me more.” Then I get a deluge of great new stories.

I am fascinated to hear about other people’s interests. I may have zero skills in gardening, preparing taxes, raising farm animals, or restoring cars—but if you are excited to tell me about it, I’m game to learn!

Most interesting to me is people’s backgrounds. I want to hear where you’re from, what your family dynamic is, where you’ve traveled, who you’ve met, what job experiences you’ve had. I love hearing about the things that have shaped you—how God has molded you into you.

As you can tell, I’m a little passionate about this week’s topic of listening. I want to extol the virtues of this important piece of our daily communication. I want to encourage all of us to listen well and listen more.

As I’ve said before, listening is giving someone a gift. You are offering people your time and attention. You are indicating that you value what they say. You demonstrate that you care about them as individuals created in the image of God. Can listening really do all of that? Indeed.

I challenge you—start today. Read the tips about listening that our authors are sharing this week and put them to use. Listen to your family. Listen to your friends. Listen to strangers you just met. Listen with the goal of connecting and caring and showing the love of Jesus.

It can start with three simple words: “Tell me more.”