What Do You Need To Hear?

When I have counseled people who have had struggles with communicating with someone who is angry with them, I often suggest that when they are at an impasse and neither is listening to the other, that they ask the other person, "What do you need most to hear from me?"  

We are in the days of "post election." We all scan the news feeds or listen to the reporters anxiously hoping they will say what we need to hear. It makes me think of the big storm that hit our town right after my dad had left to go to a meeting. I was probably 8 years old and so afraid of the loud crashing thunder and the sharp lightning that struck a tree close to our house. Suddenly, the door opened, and there was Dad. I remember sitting in his lap as we waited out the storm. I imagine I yearned for him to say what he probably did, and that was, "It's going to be alright." 

Now in our adult years, we know that it doesn't always turn out "all right," but as we go forward in life, with the uncertainty of what will happen, the word that we have as our strongest anchor is what we need to hear.

Thanks for listening.