12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:12-13
In today's society it seems there are an abundance of instances where people are not gentle with each other. They are yelling, not listening, and being rude, and that is just the beginning. Maybe social media has heightened our awareness of some of this, but each day I see where situations could be diffused with a simple gentle conversation. The problem comes when people don't know how to communicate in a calm and respectful way. Each day I write emails to people, and sometimes I really have to think about the words I use so that the email is not taken the wrong way. I hated the times when we worked from home, because I could not read the body language of the person I was speaking to. Now that we are back at work, I am very intentional about meeting with people in person so that the communication is not misinterpreted, and solutions can be worked through gently. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely times that I get fired up and am not gentle, but those are the times when I need to take a moment to pause and speak clearly and intelligently, and when I do, in the end I feel different. I feel like I have made an impact and not just because of what I say, but how I say it. I learned this week that an email I sent two months ago did not sit well with someone, and now I know why at the time. I know the reason because it was so much easier to communicate with them face-to-face in a gentle manner this week. Take a moment to think about how God communicates with you. It isn't with a loud thunderous voice, but one of a gentle, still small voice. If you remember that, you can listen for that and it will help you listen and communicate with others.
Have a great weekend.
Matt
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