Wednesday; August 5

Communication is an important part of our lives.  In fact, it is so important that we teach the process to our school children and offer it as advanced training for our leaders.  It doesn’t take too much effort to exchange simple information, but if we are going to build deep relationships we need to understand how to be effective communicators. 

Now, I would imagine that most of us know this and agree with it, but have you noticed that few of us communicate effectively all the time? Even those people who pride themselves in their communication skills can find themselves failing.  I think one of the biggest challenges we face is when we need it the most.  Have you ever been hustling to accomplish something or deep in thought and had someone interrupt you?  We might be more tolerant when they have an emergency that needs to be addressed, but how do we react when we don’t feel it is all that urgent?  I have to admit that this is one of my weaknesses … and after not doing it as well as I should have a few days ago … I came upon this observation from the New Testament, “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.” (Colossians 4:6).  That one stung a bit.  It’s interesting that Paul didn’t add the addendum, “when you aren’t busy” … his admonition appears to be the rule all the time. 

The next time we find ourselves in a hurry to react to an interruption, let’s choose to take our time and make the proper, polite response.  Most people don’t mean to irritate us on purpose, so let’s relax and treat them with the respect they deserve.

Think About It!

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