Be gentle with one another

"Be gentle with one another" 2 Timothy 2:24

I just want to say I love my job. I get to talk to people all the time about a lot of different issues! However, it is a tricky business talking to people, especially adults all the time but we are so sensitive to what other people say – especially when it is not so flattering for us personally.

How many times has someone said something thoughtless, hurtful or cutting to you and you have realised that they didn’t seem to have a clue that it affected you all? I continually find it amazing that adults don’t know how to communicate effectively with one another – me included.

I am continually misunderstood and often say things with a tone that I don’t really mean. My own children are probably the worst at this. Not only can they sometimes be defensive if I ask them a question like “what have you been up to?”, but when they talk I don’t understand a lot of the stuff they say. Often I find all my teenagers and twenty year old sniggering at something I said or at something they said that I didn’t understand. Obviously…I am old!!!

But the serious side of this is that sometimes we tell our kids stuff and expect them to understand our adult language when the fact is, often they don’t. A great tip is not to necessarily stop using bigger words, but maybe to explain it again in a different way.

Keep it simple and be gentle with them if they don’t get it the first time. The benefits will have a ripple effect into other areas of their lives.