大象传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rev Dr Alfred Banya, Head of Chaplaincy at King's College Hospital in London

Listening

Good morning.

When I first began, my pastoral ministry I was asked to visit and pray with a woman who lived alone. I did not know much about this woman.

On arrival, I tried to make conversation but she seemed to be in her own world, only smiling and not saying much. I was at a loss as to how to engage her in conversation. Strangely, and to my surprise, she began to describe my face, my eyes, my lips and my teeth, not in any offensive or inappropriate way, I must say. But feeling rather uncomfortable and a little impatient, I grappled for a way to interrupt this verbal illustration of my facial morphology. 鈥淪hall we pray?鈥� I asked her. I may as well not have spoken. The woman simply continued talking about my face. I gave up and decided just to listen. She then stopped suddenly. 鈥淪hall we pray now?鈥� she said. We said a beautiful prayer together afterwards.

What a lesson it was for me about patience and listening. Being there for someone, not on our own terms but on their terms. Sometimes just being quietly attentive to a person makes a difference. An important lesson for me was to always try and quietly acknowledge an indivuals approach to expressing themselves no matter how unexpected or challenging such approach might be.

O Lord, hear our prayer for patience and perseverance in all situations. Purify our intentions and correct our thoughts and actions as we sincerely seek to accompany those you may bring our way today who are in need of our support.

Amen