Just the other day I was watching a Cultural Intelligence training video and I heard Cesar Castillejos, the Director of the Servant Leadership Project, say “let’s not just earn the right to be heard, we first need to earn the right to listen.”  

Thinking about this concept reminded me of the song “Show Up” by Jill Phillips. You can read all of the lyrics at the bottom of this post, but three particular phrases in the song stand out to me as a sort of guideline for how we earn the right to listen.

“You don’t have to save the world…”

Entering the world of our high school friends can feel overwhelming. Thankfully we don’t have to save the world. Students today seem more needy, lonely, and depressed than those I encountered in my early years of ministry. So how to we help them?

We’ve all heard the Young Life phrase “earn the right to be heard.”

Cesar encouraged us that that begins by “earning the right to listen.”

I’ve heard Steve Chesney, Senior Regional Director in TN, phrase it “earning the right to be known.”

But finding the balance between listening to their stories and rescuing them from their stories is difficult. It requires a constant remembering that we are not the Savior – Jesus is!  Remembering that actually frees us up to truly listen.

“If you want to change the world, all you have to do is show up.”

Maybe the most defining mark of a Young Life leader is that we “show up!” We go to kids and show up on their turf. One day, I showed up at “Dodge For A Cause” at the high school where I lead Young Life. It was a dodgeball tourney for The Make A Wish Foundation. I spotted a student named Beth sitting alone in the stands. I sat at her lunch table for 3 years, and was good friends with two of her friends. Beth rarely talked to me. But it was different that afternoon at the dodgeball tournament. Just like the bleeding woman in Mark 5, at the right time, and on her turf in the high school gym, Beth told me “her whole story.” She shared with me how her mom left her dad. She told me how her on-again, off-again relationship with a boyfriend had deeply scarred her, and how she no longer trusts people, and how even her best friends had betrayed her. I sat there stunned that she was so open and honest with me. It was a holy moment.  

“No great things have I done, only small things with great love.”

It was first said by Mother Teresa, but as Young Life leaders and mentors, you and I do the small things all the time.  We love Jesus and our friends by logging hours of digital conversations over social media and text messages. We go to dodgeball tourneys and listen to stories. We prepare for club and Campaigners and make fools of ourselves in skits. We sing too many Taylor Swift and Harry Styles songs. We spend too much money at Chick-fil-A. We buy diapers for our YoungLives friends. The list goes on and on, but small things eventually add up.  

If you are wondering if what you do matters, it does.

Keep showing up in the small ways and earning the right to listen!

And while you’re listening, check out this song from Jill Phillips.

Jill Phillips – Show Up

There are more people than a heart could ever hold

More places than you could ever see

There are more people than a heart could ever hold

More places than you could ever see

The scrolling list of needs just grows and grows

24 hours, 7 days a week

‘Cause we think about so much

And do nothing at all

Afraid that what we have to give is so small

You don’t have to save the world

All that hero talk is only superficial stuff

If you want to change the world

All you got to do is show up, show up, just show up

We’re so used to an immediate response

So used to giving up when things don’t work

We know the long obedience is hard

No short-cuts will make it easier

‘Cause the journey is so long

But the difference is made

By the million small steps along the way

You don’t have to save the world

All that hero talk is only superficial stuff

If you want to change the world

All you got to do is show up, show up, just show up

No great things have I done

No great things have I done

Only small things with great love

And love makes a world of difference

You don’t have to save it

You don’t have to save the world

All that hero talk is only superficial stuff

If you want to change the world

All you got to do is show up…

You don’t have to save the world

All that hero talk is only superficial stuff

If you want to change the world

All you got to do is show up, show up, just show up