A Prayer for Listening

Teach me, O God, to listen that I may hear your voice in the busyness and the boredom of everyday life, in times doubt and times of certainty.
Teach me, O God, to listen amid the senseless noise that clamors for my attention to hear the beating of your heart.
Teach me, O God, to listen to those who are nearest me, my family, my friends, my school mates and my co-workers.
Teach me, O God, Father and Mother of us all, to know that I am created in your image.  Help me to trust the voice you have placed deep in my soul.
Teach me, O God, to listen to the whisper of the hopeless, the plea of the forgotten and outcast, the cry of the anguished.  
Teach me to listen, Holy Spirit, for your voice and in it the language that speaks to my heart; for the message that ignites my soul.
Teach me, O God, to listen.  Amen.