Thought and Poem

Thought and Poem – August 27, 2014

You are in the middle of making a pie and the telephone rings. Your hands are all sticky with pie dough, and your fingertips look as if you stuck them in cement. The phone stops ringing and you are feeling relieved…but then it starts to ring again. This time, your fingers are covered with butter from generously basting the top crust of a pie that is ready to go into the oven. You are hoping that the phone will continue to ring long enough so that you can wipe your fingers and put the pie into the oven…then you will answer the phone. Fortunately for you, it does…and you pick up the phone.

When you hear the voice on the other end of the line you ask yourself why you answer the phone. Now you think...I will NEVER get off. The free/quiet time you thought you were going to get while the pie was baking…well…it just went out the door!

You already have a full plate of problems of your own, but you politely listen as the caller goes on and on and on about theirs. While they describe every detail of their problems to you, you start to appreciate that your own plate of problems are not so bad. You start feeling sorry for the caller and the next thing you know, you are listening not only with your ears, but your heart. It is interesting how when the heart is motivated, it changes how we view things and how we show it.

The timer goes off and you tell the caller you have to go now…pie is ready to come out of the oven and before they hang up they thank you for listening…that you were just what they needed right now…a friend. Now how do you feel about answering the telephone?

What about you? When you take the time to help someone who needs a listening ear, even when you initially did not want to and they thank you for doing so, how does it make you feel? Share your thoughts with us…Jeanne Claire Probst

The Unwanted Phone Call

You don’t want to take on another problem today,

But you answer your phone when it rings anyway.

The caller tells you they are having a bad day,

And now because you answered the phone, two of you are having troubled today.

You say you are busy but they still demand your time,

And you try to distract them by asking if they would like to switch problems with you sometime.

You can walk in their “shoes,” and they can walk in yours,

And after a few miles, both of you can walk some more.

After a while you will find it will be easier for you to take the time to show someone compassion,

And it would be easier if you took a little of your time to listen.

After a while you will be glad you lent a listening ear

And after a while you will feel better yourself and will be happy you showed that you cared.

Reaching out to a friend in need,

Even when you are busy,

Can go a long way to helping you deal with your problems too,

Because there is always someone who has it worse off than you.

Jeanne Claire Probst