photo: dreamstime21733099
Once again Five Minute Friday has arrived. The week has flown!
My brother flew in from PA to help us get some square foot gardens started. It was a busy 2 1/2 days but we got it done. We put in 2-3×3 gardens and filled them with plants…mostly vegetables and herbs. Yes, we’re late getting things started but we bought small plants except for the beans.
Our grands helped with the process. It wasn’t a difficult thing to do with children aged 4 and 7. I have a post partially written about it but don’t have all the photos yet. It will be up soon!
Meanwhile, we’re ready for FMF. The rules are simple. Write for 5 minutes flat…or let us know when your time ran out. Link to Lisa-Jo Baker’s Five Minute Friday page. Tell the person ahead of you what her words meant to you along with anyone else you care to visit.
GO
How do you listen?
With your brain or your heart?
Each of us has a default.
A preference.
We tend more toward being intellectual about the things we hear.
Taking it in as information that we will add to our bank of facts.
Others of us take in information asking questions in our mind.
Trying to integrate it into our life.
Following through with our hunches and guts…
We ask more questions to be sure if our understanding is true…
or not.
How will this fit into what I already know to be true?
What will it look like?
What will it take to change?
Do I, or the person I’m listening to, want to change?
As we mature, we develop our listening
We stretch through life experience . STOP
We experience friendships with those who listen differently than we do
And find it refreshing.
We develop broader, deeper ways of listening.
We find we want to know others better.
Where do they hurt?
What makes them tick?
What makes them laugh?
What is their unique perspective on life?
We learn to listen in new ways.
We need to listen with our head
But our heart is needed too!
I understand that my child or spouse is in pain.
But I often need to set aside logic for a time.
So I can listen with my heart to feel what they are feeling.
I don’t have to agree with all their decisions.
Especially if they are grown. They are responsible.
I do need to find a way to love them.
In a way that they understand and can feel.
It isn’t always easy.
Whether it is a child, a spouse or a friend.
But I must listen with my head and a heart of love.
Unless both work together I will not hear the truth!
“But I must listen with my head and a heart of love.
Unless both work together I will not hear the truth!”
these words will stay with me for some time Martha! Truth is like that -…it remains. dropped into my spirit – no rote memorization necessary .. they reside in my spirit..lasting..always.
I love how you let us know when your 5 minutes are up. I have yet to write a true 5 minute post. lol. such great writing. will visit again soon.
thanks for stopping by lisha. it’s true, i just can’t seem to write for only 5 minutes. i’m not a brief person. i’ve learned to accept it:) not everyone can talk (or write) in sound bytes. we need both kinds of people in the world. i married a sound byte person. i’m the embellisher:)
Loved my visit here! Thanks for this great post.
visiting from fmf:
http://www.ordinaryinspirations.blogspot.com/2013/06/listen-five-minute-friday.html
glad you stopped by traci:) thanks
Very good thoughts for growing!
But I must listen with my head and a heart of love.
Unless both work together I will not hear the truth!
And how neat your brother came in to help you with the square foot gardening. We have done some of that as well.
thanks loni. glad you stopped by. you can imagine how i learned that truth! through the school of hard knocks!
yes, my brother is a retired airline captain (american). with 3 sisters (2 extroverted older ones and 1 younger) he is a quiet, calm anchor. it is always delightful to have him visit…or to visit him and his wife Patty.
He is an encyclopedia of square foot gardening info…and just to top it off, he gave me a book for answers to more questions.