Have you ever been caught in a conversation, either on the phone or in person, and asked a question that you couldn’t answer because you hadn’t been listening? In the world of multi-tasking, isn’t it easy to nod your head and continue to multi-task while someone is talking to you? Oh, my dear sistas, I stand guilty.

The art of listening is difficult at best. In James 1:19, it says, “Know this my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” What wise words! If I would give 100 percent of my attention to listening rather than day dreaming or doing some unimportant task, my life would be much richer and easier.

This would have especially come in handy when I was raising Phillip and Monica. But I was too busy to sit down, look them in the eye, and ask them open-ended questions. My regret? I could have made their lives so much richer and easier, too.

Maybe I’m the only person who suffers from the need to be heard, rather than the woman who wants to listen. I want to be the wife who listens to her husband with empathy and love, the mother who listens to her children and understand exactly what they’re going through because I’ve been in the same situation; I want to be the grandmother who listens and offers advice and wisdom to her grandchildren; and I want to be the friend who listens without taking the entire conversation over.

But most of all I want to love unconditionally, listen to my loved ones, think before speaking (that’s a whole other blog), and be slow to anger. Can I get a big, “I’m with ya sister?”