A day or two ago I began a conversation about the path that God has guided me down for 30+ years. I have decided to call that path I’m on the path of a listening servant. Today, I want to flesh out what I mean by “listening servant” and why I believe this is my God given path.
The path of a listening servant – what does this mean? For me, this path is one that contains two actions – listening and serving. In his book Uprising: a revolution of the soul author Erwin McManus concludes that the value of serving others is what we should all be exercising. After all if Jesus came to server other, shouldn’t we do the same? This part of my path has been easy for me to follow. One of my spiritual gifts is serving so this comes naturally to me. How and where I serve ebbs and flows with the rhythms of my life. To be honest I have had to learn to say “no” and establish some healthy boundaries but all in all I do have a passion about serving.
Some serving opportunities come along that don’t require a lot of thought: holding the door for someone, helping a friend or neighbor, or pitching in to clean up a mess. Other opportunities may not be so clear: things that push your boundaries or may over extend you, opportunities outside your comfort zone or abilities, or stepping in to help in a messy situation. Don’t get me wrong there are a number of valid reasons why “no” is the correct response, but what about those opportunities where you may be saying “no” but God want you to say “yes?” How do you discern how you will respond in this situation? This is where the listening part of my path comes into focus.
Serving comes naturally to me but I have only in the last few years really begun to hone my listening skills. It seems that in the last few months God has testing me in this area as well. I taught a seminary class called Scared Conversations that focused on the skill of listening and I have felt more promptings by the Spirit than I have in a long while. When I responded in the affirmative to these promptings God has opened a number of doors and when I responded in the negative, well I guess I won’t know what may have been. This path is not only about listening to God, it’s also about listening to the stories of others.
I have thought for a long time that we have lost the art of conversation. We are good at talking at each other, we may even hear what the other is saying but we don’t take the time to listen. As the other is speaking we are to busy forming our response that we don’t truly hear what they are saying. I’ll expand on this theme in another posting on another day.
As we take the time to listen to God or another, as we set aside our own agenda and respond to what God or the other is saying. As I respond to God in service to another or respond the the needs expressed by the other I am taking steps down the path of the listening servant, the path that God has chosen for me.
If you are interested in discerning the path God has placed you on contact me and we can talk.