Thursday, December 19, 2013

"How are you?"

"How are you?"

"Fine."

"You?"

"Good."

Sound familiar?
This "conversation" is spoken countless times during the course of one day. 
From the drive up window in the morning, to the cashier at the grocery store at the end of a long day, these 6 words pretty much sums up "small talk."

This week I asked someone those words, "How are you?" and got an altogether different response.  One that threw me off guard.  Looking  at  me with such depth, such pain,   I swear I saw inside her soul.  As if  daring me to blink, she held my stare and drew me in with the tear rolling down her cheek. 
She had my attention. 
In the minutes that followed, I learned of a mother's pain with a wayward child.  Honestly, this person is "just" an acquaintance, but she took a chance that I might listen and answered my question in a very real way.   Desperate to have someone understand, she needed to be heard. 

 I can still see those weary eyes as I sit here alone in my thoughts. 
What power in those three little words.  Even more to just simply listen. 


  

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