Know this, my beloved brothers; let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
As I sit to write some of my thoughts into
devotion, sometimes I put it down in words after much thought. I know
what I am trying to convey. I find that I struggle to use words that are
not offensive to some or express it so it has the right meaning. I am
always cautious with texts that I send on my phone as I know that they can be
read and the person on the receiving side totally does not read what I thought
I wrote. I know that punctuation, spelling and complete sentences help
the conversation; but texts are to be short and concise. Text messages
are not to be typed in all capitals because that means I am shouting. Abbreviations can be dangerous as some have several interpretations and
some are dated to the age, gender and ethnicity of the person. I am
not fond of phone conversations, because I can't see the person's
expression and I find I can have a more clear understanding of the person I am
talking to and what they are saying if I can see their expressions and gestures.
There is so much that is offensive to people in
our current world. I find it hard to understand their expectations to
eliminate everything. There are designs, artwork, statues, or writings
that I find unacceptable or offensive; but I know that to some it is not. I don't expect everything I find offensive to be removed from my sight.
We need to learn from our history as to not repeat it or at least the horrific
and harmful portions of history. I think we need to open our minds to change
and learn from our mistakes.
The problem is that too quickly people assume that
something said or something done was meant to hurt someone. I don't think
that is the case in most incidences, I think people struggle to know how to say
or write something that all will understand. It's the communication and
understanding of which each is saying but what does the other person
hear?
Reflecting
and wondering what it was like for Jesus to reach out to express his
love. The Bible talks of the struggles, each denomination of church
has their own historical story of what it was to worship God and what they
believe.
Prayer: Dear
Lord, Help us to open our hearts, open our minds, and open our temperaments to
the ability to understand your teachings. Open our ears that we hear what
you want us to hear and not what is leading us away from you. Fill
our souls with calmness, empathy, and love for others. Help us to listen
for what others express in their feelings and give us the understanding even if
the words are not the same as we would use. Stop us from our negative
receipt of other’s communications and accept that they may not use the right
words, phrases or gestures. Guide us to spend more time with you and
reading the Bible for the guidance to improve the world in your name.
Amen
Lori Hood
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