Speech
3 John 1:14 (New International Version)
14I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
The capacity for speech is complex and amazing, but, when it comes to communicating--it sometimes feels as if God sat us down in an airport control tower and told us to bring in the planes--with no training.
The older I get, the longer the stretch seems from the moment we utter our first attempts at words to when we understand how to use them.
I sometimes wonder about God. He put us in charge of his creation in the first place--I really wonder about that. And then when it came to the task of carrying the message of his love for mankind to the rest of the world--he left us with that too--didn't he know how dangerous that was? And, as one of my favourite singers, Rich Mullins once said, "He didn't have a plan B."
The power of words is staggering. They can slay or salve, hurt or heal. They are quick to leave our lips--but so hard to undo.
This morning I read a little from each of a couple of books I'm working my way through: How to Have That Difficult Conversation You've Been Avoiding, by Doctors Henry Cloud and John Townsend, and Soultalk by Larry Crabb.
In How to Have That Difficult Conversation (chapter 18), I read a great passage on the need to listen and "contain," or simply "be with" another in a conversation. It talked about not reacting--simply allowing the other person to process their thoughts or emotions. This is a skill I'm working on as opposed to responding to an inner impulse to "help," or "make better" if someone is experiencing painful emotions.
Then, in chapter 4 of Soul Talk, Dr. Crabb was talking about our inclination to get involved in helping "activities"--programs, committees, initiatives, campaigns --contrasted with engaging in the process of what is really craved by every human being--to be known, explored and discovered by another.
This week I was talking to a friend who'd had a "soul talk" with someone--a conversation where he felt eternity hanging in the balance in someone's soul as they edged their way towards the Kingdom. Although he hasn't been reading these books, I knew it was soul talk because of what his friend said to him afterwards--"I appreciated it. It meant a lot to me--to be able to open up."
As my friend Frank said to me, "We live for times like that."
Dear Lord, you whose lips were full of grace--be Lord of my tongue. Please let me use it less often but with more of your power.
14I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
The capacity for speech is complex and amazing, but, when it comes to communicating--it sometimes feels as if God sat us down in an airport control tower and told us to bring in the planes--with no training.
The older I get, the longer the stretch seems from the moment we utter our first attempts at words to when we understand how to use them.
I sometimes wonder about God. He put us in charge of his creation in the first place--I really wonder about that. And then when it came to the task of carrying the message of his love for mankind to the rest of the world--he left us with that too--didn't he know how dangerous that was? And, as one of my favourite singers, Rich Mullins once said, "He didn't have a plan B."
The power of words is staggering. They can slay or salve, hurt or heal. They are quick to leave our lips--but so hard to undo.
This morning I read a little from each of a couple of books I'm working my way through: How to Have That Difficult Conversation You've Been Avoiding, by Doctors Henry Cloud and John Townsend, and Soultalk by Larry Crabb.
In How to Have That Difficult Conversation (chapter 18), I read a great passage on the need to listen and "contain," or simply "be with" another in a conversation. It talked about not reacting--simply allowing the other person to process their thoughts or emotions. This is a skill I'm working on as opposed to responding to an inner impulse to "help," or "make better" if someone is experiencing painful emotions.
Then, in chapter 4 of Soul Talk, Dr. Crabb was talking about our inclination to get involved in helping "activities"--programs, committees, initiatives, campaigns --contrasted with engaging in the process of what is really craved by every human being--to be known, explored and discovered by another.
This week I was talking to a friend who'd had a "soul talk" with someone--a conversation where he felt eternity hanging in the balance in someone's soul as they edged their way towards the Kingdom. Although he hasn't been reading these books, I knew it was soul talk because of what his friend said to him afterwards--"I appreciated it. It meant a lot to me--to be able to open up."
As my friend Frank said to me, "We live for times like that."
Dear Lord, you whose lips were full of grace--be Lord of my tongue. Please let me use it less often but with more of your power.
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