"The first duty of love is to listen." - Paul Tillich

Lately, I've been struggling to pray. I've not been struggling to find time to pray, nor have I experienced a lack of things to pray for; but, its been difficult for me to actually find the words to accurately represent what I am feeling or seemed pointless to tell God something He is already smack in the middle of.

Part of the time, it feels like my heart is too full to pray. It feels like a dam that has so much water pressing up against it, that if a little leaks out- it will all break free, rushing out of control. And part of the time, it feels pointless to pray when I really have nothing to say.

I reached a moment of clarity this weekend however. I was simply sitting around talking with friends and realized that with people, I spend most of my time listening. I feel like one of my strengths is giving people a safe place to talk. I often listen more than I speak in life.

And then I realized- how little I purposefully listen to God. When I pray, I sit down and feel like I must keep the conversation going. I almost have been making it awkward and forced. I wonder, how different would my prayers be if I spent the majority of the time listening?

Would I hear God's voice? Would He share the answers to all the questions I'm afraid to ask?