Yappin

Have you ever met someone that can talk? And I don’t just mean communicate a little bit, but I mean if you were going to pick one word to describe them it would be the word “talk” kind of talker? Well, yesterday I was at Starbucks enjoying a nice cup of Sumatra when a couple guys sat down at the table next to me. Now, I try not to make a habit of listening in on other people’s conversations, but these guys were talking like they were sitting on opposite sides of the coffee shop, so it was kind of hard to tune them out. And I was actually a little interested in their conversation because they were talking about their strategy for men’s ministry at their church. Since I work at a church these kinds of things interest me.

But their conversation was kind of funny. The first guy threw out a couple ideas he had been thinking about and asked the other guy what he thought. Man number two proceeded to launch into a 40-minute diatribe (no, I’m not exaggerating) in which I think he took exactly one breath and didn’t even touch on the ideas man number one had proposed. He had about six false conclusions (like lots of pastors do, you know, they say “in conclusion” or “so that’s what I’m thinking” and then proceed to keep talking for twenty more minutes) repeated everything he said at least five times and made sure that man number one was not able to get a word in. It was funny, annoying, and disgusting all at the same time.

That “discussion” reminded me that too much of the time I think about what I’m going to say next while someone is talking instead of really listening to them. In doing that I show that I’m not really interested in them, just in trying to get them to be interested in me. I have to remember that a conversation is not a competition. I like to talk. I need to learn to love to listen.