By Leanna Teodosio, a sophomore sociology and Bible and religion double major from Lima, Ohio

Scripture: Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19 (NRSV)

Have you ever really taken the time to listen to what a middle schooler had to say? There are some who call me crazy, but middle school is my favorite age group for a variety of reasons, including their stark honesty, humor, energy, emerging autonomy and individuality, to name a few. I also love the way that middle schoolers reach out and desire so badly to connect with others, to be important in the sense that they feel listened to. To be recognized gives us human beings a sense of importance to what can seem like our otherwise insignificant humanity.

Deep down inside each one of us, a piece of that middle schooler never truly goes away. We have the need to be heard. In the first two verses of today’s Scripture, the psalmist says it this way: “I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.”

I get the image of God leaning in, taking sincere interest in what is being said. When I talk to God, I know it’s not always pretty and eloquent. It can perhaps be irrational, desperate and raw. But nonetheless God listens and cares. We not only serve a God that listens, but a God who answers us and acts on the behalf of his children. May we be comforted in the fact that we are heard. We can call on and rely on God to listen as long as we live.