Pop Culture Corner: The Art of Listening
04-08-2006
by Johann Snyder

I have a confession to make; I'm deaf...when I play videogames. I'm not entirely sure why this is, but I have a hard time really listening to anything when I'm gaming. Now you'll notice that I say listening, not hearing. I can hear fine. In fact, I'm totally tuned in to the auditory cues of whatever game I'm playing. It's listening to anyone else in the room that I have trouble with, and believe, I'm talking trouble with a capital "T". But as with so many things in life, I've learned some valuable lessons from this handicap that have not only helped me in day to day life, but helped me in my Christian life as well.

I think I first realized what a serious problem this was when my wife was pregnant for the first time. I remember that I was playing a football game at the time when she came in to the room, holding a pregnancy test, and said to me "I'm pregnant." I believe my response was, and I quote. "Mmmhmm." To her credit, my wife didn't storm out and start packing her bags. She checked to make sure that I had heard her properly and I told her there were two minutes left in the fourth quarter and I was behind by six but had the ball and we'd talk later. Now before you judge too harshly, let me just point out that my season was on the line and I wanted to make sure I got to the playoffs. You may also be thinking that I seemed to hear my wife just fine, I must point out once again that hearing and listening are two completely different things. Yes I heard her. Yes I responded coherently. But by the time my game was over (which I won by the way) all memory of that conversation had completely vanished. In fact, it wasn't really until a couple days later when my wife reminded me of what we had spoken about that I finally comprehended what she was trying to tell me...and promptly passed out (just kidding). I was shocked, however, and understandably my wife was somewhat upset that I was shocked, seeing as she had told me several days earlier. I just didn't remember that conversation.

Fortunately, we've been able to work out a good system so that I no longer miss out on important information…such as having a baby. When my wife has something really important to tell, she doesn't tell me while I'm playing a video games (because, after all, what's the point? She might as well go talk to the wall.) While I admire her willingness to understand and adapt to my particular handicap, I also realized that I needed to do something as well. I now try to make a habit of pausing whatever game I happen to be playing in order to listen to her. I realized it's a simple matter of priorities, and my wife should take precedence. I know that may seem obvious to a lot of you, but when the galaxy needs saving and you're the only one who can save, you'll understand how these issues can get muddy.

The reason I tell you all of this is not to demonstrate what a geek-slash-dork I am, but I wanted to share an important lesson that I've learned from this experience. I don't know about you, but I find it very easy to get distracted in life. From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep, my mind whirls with everything that has to be done in a day. Add in the constant distraction of iPods, cell phones, PDAs, laptops, computers, e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging, TV, Internet, and all the other numerous gadgets that clutter our lives, it can be hard sometimes to hear anything else; especially God. What I find really amazing is that in spite of all the high-tech gobbledygook around, people still feel lost, disorientated and confused…or maybe they feel that way because of all the gizmo gobbledygook. Well, anyway, the good news is that God is always there, ready to give us direction and peace. In fact, Isaiah 30:21 tells us "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the way, walk in it.'" The trick is, in order to hear that voice, we're actually going to need to pay attention. Just like I've learned to put my video games on hold in order to actually listen to my wife, I've learned from that experience that sometimes I need to put my life on hold in order to actually listen to God. It isn't always easy, because there are a lot of things demanding our attention right now, and God will always be there later, right? While that may be true, we need to learn that sometimes we have to ignore the immediate in order to focus on the important. The important rarely needs to be done right now, but it's vastly more satisfying to accomplish than constantly trying to chase after and keep up with the immediate.

It's funny how one can learn life lessons from something as simple as gaming, isn't it? While I can't say I've become one hundred percent successful at tuning out games to tune in to my wife, or at tuning out life to tune into God, I am gratefully that God used something in my daily life to help me better understand something about my eternal life. Take a moment and look around, and perhaps you'll find that God's trying to get through to you as well.

Johann "Yo" Snyder is the host of the Mid-day show at M88 radio, 88.3FM in Albuquerque, NM. He writes a monthly blog that takes some elements of current events and pop culture to illustrate spiritual points. The archives for these articles can be found at: http://www.m88.org/yo-duh.asp