We’ve all heard the old truism, likely from a parent or grandparent. "God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason," the saying goes.

The point, of course, is that listening matters a great deal. This can be quite a challenge to remember in the age of 24-hour news cycles and ever-updating social media. But as Carrie McKean writes, while our current moment allows rage and discord to travel faster than prior times, "our era is not uniquely chaotic or tumultuous. The church has lived through worse."

In "The Miracle of the Ear," McKean reflects on the story of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2. She notes that while we tend to describe the miracle in terms of the tongues of fire, it didn’t stop there. God’s power also made it possible for hearers to listen and understand.

"Sometimes," McKean writes, "we need the gift of the tongue: a resolve that empowers us to stand where we need to stand, resist what we must resist, and say what needs to be said. But sometimes we need the gift of the ear, as God asks us to quiet down, listen, and tame our tongues."

May we grow in knowledge and wisdom as those who speak when the moment calls for it, and those who remember the miracle of the ear, as well.