“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)

In his classic book “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, Dale Carnegie tells of an evening he spent at a dinner party hosted by a book publisher. One of the guests at this party was a distinguished botanist.

Carnegie was so fascinated by what this man had to share that he literally sat on the edge of his chair and listened for hours while the botanist spoke of exotic plants and experiments in developing new forms of plant life, yadi, yada.

As he was leaving the party, the botanist turned to the host and said that Dale Carnegie was a “most interesting conversationalist.”

Needless to say Carnegie was totally flabbergasted by this compliment, considering he had hardly said anything at all.

He writes: “I had him thinking of me as a good conversationalist when, in reality, I had been merely a good listener and had encouraged him to talk.”

You have probably heard something similar to these words before: “God gave us two ears and one mouth, so that we would listen at least twice as much as we speak.”

Although these exact words are not part of Holy Scripture, other verses express the value of listening more than talking.

“Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.” (Proverbs 10:19)

“Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.” (Proverbs 17:28)

Abraham Lincoln is credited with adapting the latter into this more popular version: “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.” Ouch!

Perhaps no other verse expresses it quite so succinctly as the one cited earlier from James 3: “Be swift to listen and slow to speak.”

Easier said than done, though. Amen?

Yet, it is indeed a key to becoming known as a conversationalist.

Sulojana and I couldn’t help but wonder…

If this is indeed true of our relationship with other human beings, how much truer still is it when it comes to our conversations with God?

For the longest time in my life (can you say decades?), I was one who was swift to speak and slow to listen.

Prayer was primarily a time for me to do all the talking. Correction. Venting and Asking with a dash of Thanking.

Clearly, prayer was no conversation 🙁

However, when I finally saw the light and started to reverse course, everything changed!

I was amazed how much God had to say to me when I was “swift to listen!”

There was an appreciable increase in the intimacy of our relationship when I started becoming “slow to speak.”

Interestingly enough, it started to manifest itself in human relationships as well. Wow!

Dear DWOD friend, we bless you to develop and grow a reputation as “a most interesting conversationalist”–here on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus’ name. Amen.