Listen

When I ask you to listen to me
and you start giving advice
you have not done what I have asked.

When I ask you to listen to me
and you begin to tell me why
I shouldn't feel that way
you are trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me
and you feel you have to do
something to solve my problem
you have failed me.
Strange as that may seem.

Listen!
All I asked was that you listen,
not talk or do,
but hear me.
I can do for myself,
I am not helpless:
maybe discouraged and faltering,
maybe lonely and isolated
and grieving and searching,
but not helpless.

When you do something for me
that I can and need to do myself
you contribute to my fear and my weakness.

But when you accept as a simple fact
that I do feel what I feel,
no matter how irrational
then I can quit trying ot convince you
and get about the business of understanding
what's behind this irrational feeling,
and when that is clear the answers
are obvious and I don't need advice.

Perhaps that is why prayer works for many people
because God is sometimes mute
and doesn't try to give advice or fix things
he just listens and just lets you work it out.

So please listen and just hear me
and if you want to talk
wait a minute for you turn and
I will listen to you.

By Anonymous