• Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Photo Gallery
  • Contact
PRAIRIE PUNCTUATIONS

Stories to hear

2/5/2016

0 Comments

 
    The most important gift we can give someone is to listen to their story.  As human beings we need to know there is someone who will hear what is roiling around in my brain and more necessary, in my heart.  
    Impatience grows as old people tell the same stories over and over again.  We say, “dementia”, “senile”.  I once read an article that said to tell the stories of our lives repeatedly becomes an affirmation of who we are.  As we age and lose friends and spouse and family and all those who knew us ‘when’, we must tell our stories to help ourselves as well as others know that once we had direction and purpose.  Our stories become more important the older we grow.  We are grounded by our stories.  Those who listen to the elder stories gain a deeper understanding of what it means to grow and not diminish with the years.
    Children need to know someone is listening.  To busy adults their little fears are irrational and we brush them off. “Go out and play.”  Their stories, always holding a germ of truth, must be sifted through so we can help these small ones find their way into lives that will listen to others as they have been heard.
    The teen years can often be a time when the stories stop because the perception is the teens have nothing worth listening to and no one has the time to listen.  These are the times when we must work harder to draw out the stories.  For teens it is a time of darkness and confusion.  It is a time when a steady hand on their shoulder and someone to listen, listen, listen without interruption is the rudder for the journey.
    I was going through a time of turmoil many years ago.  I remember so well a friend who just listened to me pour out what was on my heart.  By her listening, I heard myself for the first time.  I listened to what I was saying because her silence was an invitation into myself.  Her listening was a great gift. 
    No one has to fix it for me. Nor do I need to fix it for someone else.  The healing comes in the willingness to share a space, a moment together and pour out what lives in the deepest heart of me.
    One author has written “. . .perhaps words of truth reach us best through the heart, and stories and songs that are the language of the heart.” And another has said, “The shortest distance between a human being and Truth is a story.”  
    May it always be so. ​
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Avis R. Anderson

    Retired public school librarian, retired ELCA pastor, lover of the prairies, "daughter of the middle border", granddaughter of Scandinavian immigrants.  Always loved to read and write.  P.S.  I don't Facebook or Twitter, but I would enjoy visiting with you at aa66bg77@gmail.com

    Archives

    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All
    1950s Life
    Advent
    Age
    Aging
    All Saints 2020
    Attitude
    Baby Boomers
    Back Roads
    Black Hills
    Blessings
    Bombs Iran
    Books
    Border Wall
    Choices
    Christmas 2017
    Christmas 2017 (2)
    Christmas 2018
    Civic Pride
    Civil Discourse
    Civil War
    Climate Change
    Clothes Lines
    Comey Hearings
    Community
    Covid 19
    Dinosaur Digs
    Diplomacy
    Douglas
    Down-sizing
    Election
    Elections
    Elie Wiesel
    Environment
    Faith Life
    Fall
    Fear
    Flood On Yellowstone
    Forgiveness
    Freedom (in Christ)
    Freedom Of The Press
    Friends
    Friendship
    Ft. Peck Montana
    Ft. Union
    Funerals
    Funeral Sermons
    Genocide
    God's Love
    Grace
    Great Basin
    Green Spaces
    Handwork
    History
    Holocaust
    Holy Spirit
    Home
    Hope 2021
    House
    Hugh Glass
    Human Relations
    Immigration
    Immigration Grandparents
    Indians
    Iowa Caucus
    July 4th 2017
    June 2020
    Justice
    Lamenting
    Library Week
    Life Questions
    Listening
    Living Today
    Living Well
    Love
    Lutefisk Style
    Makoshika 2019
    Makoshika Park
    Meditation
    Memorial Day 2017
    Mother Teresa
    Native Americans
    New
    Pandemic 2020
    Parks
    Peace
    Peace 2021
    Pentecost
    Poetry
    Politics
    Politics 2017
    Prairie Home
    Prairie Journey
    Prairies
    Process
    Prodigal Son
    Public Service
    Rain
    Ranching
    Reading
    Retirement
    River Valley
    Road Trip
    Route 66
    Rural Life
    Seasons
    Self-control
    Service
    Simple Living
    Single Life
    Small Town Life
    Soldiers
    Spirituality
    Spring
    Spring Weather
    Stav Church
    Stories
    Summer 2017
    Summer Adventures
    Summer Living
    Summertime
    Taos NM
    The Mind
    Travel
    Travel Colorado
    Travel Wyoming
    Trinity
    Trump
    Trump Politics
    Truth
    Utah
    Viewpoints
    Voting
    Walking
    Wealth
    Wind
    Winter2019February
    Winter In Baker
    Wisdom
    Wisdom Words
    Women
    Words
    Work
    Workers
    World
    World Society
    World War I
    Wyoming
    Yellowstone River
    Yellowstone River Valley
    Zennie's Travels

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Photo Gallery
  • Contact