Scripture
James 1:19 — “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”
Years ago I was rushing through the kitchen, mentally rehearsing Sunday’s message while grabbing Diet Mtn. Dew, when my daughter appeared in the doorway. She started talking about something that had happened at school – I could hear her voice, but honestly, I was already three steps ahead in my own thoughts.
“Mama, are you listening?”
That question stopped me cold. Because I realized I wasn’t. Not really. I was doing that thing we all do – hearing the sounds while my mind was somewhere else entirely.
But here’s what hit me: I had just spent thirty minutes in study/meditation that morning, asking God to speak to me, to guide me, to help me hear what West needed. I was so focused on listening for God’s voice for others that I had completely missed God’s voice through my own daughter standing right in front of me.
That’s when it dawned on me – Shema doesn’t just change how we hear God. It changes how we hear everyone.
I put down my drink, looked directly into her eyes, and said, “You’re absolutely right. I wasn’t listening. Start over. You have my complete attention.”
What happened next was beautiful. Not just because she shared what was really on her heart, but because I could feel something shifting in me. The same intentional, present attention I had been trying to give God in prayer – that’s what she needed from me. The same sacred listening.
And suddenly I understood: Shema isn’t just a spiritual discipline. It’s a relational revolution.
When we learn to truly hear God, we can’t help but start truly hearing each other. The quality of attention we give to the Divine begins to overflow into every conversation, every relationship, every moment someone trusts us with their words.
But the opposite is also true. When we’re distracted from God, when we’re not practicing Shema in our spiritual lives, that fractured attention shows up everywhere else. We half-listen to our spouses while scrolling our phones. We nod along to our friends while mentally composing our response. We hear our children’s words but miss their hearts.
The Hebrew word Shema (שְׁמַע) reveals something profound about this connection. When Moses called out “Hear, O Israel,” he wasn’t speaking to individuals scattered across the wilderness. He was speaking to a community. Shema is inherently communal – it’s about a people learning to listen together, to God and to each other.
In Hebrew understanding, you can’t truly hear God in isolation from your community, and you can’t truly hear your community without first learning to hear God. Sacred listening creates sacred community.
Think about the people in your life who are truly good listeners – the ones who make you feel heard, seen, understood. I’ll bet they’re also people who have learned to be still, to be present, to pay attention to the deeper currents of life. They’ve developed what we might call a “Shema heart” – the capacity for transformative listening.
And think about times when you’ve felt most connected to others, most able to offer the gift of your full presence. Weren’t those often the times when you were also most connected to God, most aware of the sacred dimension of ordinary moments?
This is the ripple effect of Shema. When we position ourselves to truly hear God – with all the weight, attention, and responsiveness that Hebrew hearing requires – it transforms our capacity to hear everyone else. We begin to listen not just for information but for the person behind the words. Not just for what’s being said but for what’s being revealed. Not just with our ears but with our hearts.
This week, as we’ve been exploring Shema, maybe you’ve already started to notice this ripple effect in your own life. Maybe you’ve caught yourself being more present in conversations, more attentive to the people around you, more aware of the sacred nature of being truly heard and hearing truly.
Takeaway
Shema with God transforms Shema with others. Sacred listening creates sacred community. Every conversation is practice for prayer, and every prayer prepares us for deeper connection with those we love.
Closing Prayer
God, thank You for teaching us that listening to You changes how we listen to everyone else. Help us carry the same sacred attention we bring to prayer into every conversation today. Make us people who hear not just words but hearts, who offer the gift of true presence to those who trust us with their stories. Let our Shema with You overflow into Shema with others.
Grace and Peace,
Andrea