Posts

Showing posts with the label Listen More

You allowing the planting?

My dear brothers and sisters, always be more willing to listen than to speak. Keep control of your anger. Anger does not help you live the way God wants. So get rid of everything evil in your lives—every kind of wrong you do. Be humble and accept God’s teaching that is planted in your hearts. This teaching can save you. (James 1:19-21) How good are you at listening? I don't mean just letting someone speak on and on, but truly listening to what is being said. We can all tune out someone who is droning on about some subject. It takes some effort to reconnect and pay attention, doesn't it? Listen more than you speak - those are words to live by - if we'd just listen to them! Why is it we have relationship issues? It usually began with something said that was misinterpreted, or a failing to say anything at all when the moment came and went. Truth be told, the 'relationship issues' we have with our heavenly Father are no different. We come and talk, talk, talk with him i

Batter up!

When baseball was just starting out as a national pastime, the pitching was a whole lot different than it is today.  You'd hear the announcer say over the crackly loud speaker system, "Here comes the wind-up..." In a few quick moves, the pitcher would go through various "contortions" until there was a sudden release of the ball, sending it sailing toward home plate. It was the "wind-up" that gave the ball its speed. Without the wind-up, the ball was not likely to cross the plate, but if it did - the batter was more likely to hit it dead on, sending it as far as his swing would allow.  The beginning of a quarrel in terms of this 'game of life' we play every day is something like the "wind-up" of the "pitch" that will send the entire conversation into a direction it may never have intended to go! Learning to control the "pitch" often determines if the 'argument' ball will ever reach home plate! The start of