"The Power of Listening"

Today’s BYU-Idaho devotional speaker was Ben Fryar, the managing director of institutional research and assessment at BYU-Idaho. He spoke about the importance of listening and how the act of listening to the Spirit, ourselves and others can have a big impact in the quality of our lives.  

“I chose this topic because I believe listening deeply helps us progress and become more like our Heavenly Father,” he said in his devotional talk. 

In the interview with BYU-Idaho Radio he explained how a few years ago he recognized that he needed to work on listening to others if he wanted to improve, and as he started to work on it he noticed that better ideas started to come to him during his meetings.  

“Listening can just be an act of compassion and recognizing that sometimes people are not trying to solve a problem, they are trying to heal,” he said.  

Fryar talked about how listening is beyond what we can hear, we need to be aware of those around us and what the Spirit is telling us to do to help our brothers and sisters feel loved. It takes an act of love and selfless compassion to understand what their needs are.  

“I feel this kind of listening aligns with a commitment we are all familiar with to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort,” Fryar said in his talk. 

It is also crucial to listen to our own voice and understand how we feel about aspects in our live. In his talk, Brother Fryar shared a story about a time when he and his wife were trying to choose between continuing his career as a Seminary Teacher or changing to help with the online program at Brigham Young University. They were both great options and he said the Lord wanted him and his wife to decide.  

“If we are here as agents and people who are growing and are trying to become more like our Heavenly Father, I think that there is kind of a partnership with the Holy Ghost that needs to happen in some of these decisions,” he explained in the interview.  

As we take the time to listen to the Holy Ghost, ourselves and others in groups, with our hearts being filled with compassion, we will have more confidence in the decisions we make and will have the ability to help others know they are loved by our Heavenly Father, he said.