You Talkin’ To Me?

Communication is a art-form. No way around it.

It will make or break your day, make or break any relationship & alter the way you view a person.

Communication was not an area I thrived in growing up; I was awkward, kind of formal, and had far too much attitude with my parents.

My dad had the most powerful phrase (which I heard almost every day of my teenage years): “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”

Can I get an amen?!

I have been heavilyreminded of this phrase over the past few years, working in customer service. People speak down to you, challenge you & take any opportunity to push your buttons, just to make themselves feel in control of the conversation.

This is a generation where we are more comfortable typing out a heartfelt message in a text, rather than saying it to someone’s face.

So when those face-to-face interactions come up, it’s not often we slow ourselves to think about the inflection of the comments we make.

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. James 1:19 lays it out pretty clearly!

We are supposed to:

1. Listen. I don’t mean nodding your head while you finishing sending a GIF, I mean truly engaging in active listening. Making eye contact & opening our ears all the way.

2. Pause. Don’t jump to give a heated answer, you’ll be quicker to make yourself look like a fool. Practice taking one deep breath before you construct your response.

3. Speak with Wisdom & Love. We will never improve communication by adding anger, hate, frustration or guilt to a conversation. We can sympathize with individuals encountering those emotions! But we must always be wise and loving when continuing the dialogue.

Be gracious & patient as you implement these! I am working every day to be better, and still lose focus.

Sticks and stones may break bones, but words can break a heart.

Let’s be mindful with our words, and see how quickly love can grow.