More From Elizabeth Erlandson

The experience I wrote about in my devotional “A Good Listener” occurred in October 2017 at our nearby mall. My husband had lost consciousness while driving and had rolled his car into a ditch. He had open-heart surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm and was in the hospital for several days. I wasn’t sure he would survive and felt incredibly lonely and worried about the future. My encounter with Chic, the retail clerk featured in my devotional, lifted my spirits and made me feel much less alone in my grief. My husband survived that surgery plus several other procedures in the past six years.

This has not been easy for my husband and me. However, my experience in the mall taught me a valuable lesson that I try to incorporate into my daily life: I practice active, empathetic listening wherever I go. I attempt to ask open-ended questions that can’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” While the other person is talking, I try to clear my mind of my own thoughts and concentrate on what they are saying. Finally, I look the person in the eye and give them cues like nodding that I am listening.

Since my experience at the mall, I have asked God to open my mind, heart, and ears to the people I meet throughout the day. Amazingly, people are eager to share their lives with me. This has allowed me to pray for them (and sometimes with them) and to follow up with genuine concern when we meet again. Now wherever I go—the grocery store, church, the gym, or the food distribution site where I volunteer on Saturday mornings—I never meet a stranger, I always meet friends.

Listening with my heart has made a difference in my life, and I believe it has made a difference for others as well.