Be quick to listen

 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, - James 1:19 

How significant is listening? Listening is the fullness of hearing. It is possible to hear someone talk and not listen. In order to hear and listen, one must be paying attention. 

Jesus would often end His teachings with the statement, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” We need to open our ears, and pay attention. We need to listen to some important things in this life. Many opportunities for “listening” come along only once in a lifetime. It is regretfully too late when we find ourselves saying, “I should have listened…” Let’s consider some of those things and why we need to open our ears to hear them.

We have some listening to do. We must listen to God in order to be pleasing to God. We need to listen to our brethren, helping one another to be pleasing to God. We need to listen to others, to hear their cries for help and bring them to place in which they too will be pleasing to God. Are you listening to God, to your brethren, to others?

Question: When you're going through a difficult time, what's the best thing a friend can say or do for you?