Comm-u-nication

Communication

It’s one of the most influential and important things in our lives, yet many of us frequently struggle and often fail at. We have opportunities to practice communication in our work life, our home life and our spiritual life – yet many of us don’t seem to be getting any better at it.

I know my communication skills with Morgan are quite poor. I communicate that I would like her to clean her room, however, my efforts fail. My communication skills at work often fail as well. An email that says ‘please provide your street address’ often produces a post office box address. And I won’t even mention that my communication with God is much less than I’d like it to be.

When we want to get a message across … here’s something to remember. Comm-YOU-nicate. Put a little of yourself in the message. Morgan doesn’t want to hear a laundry list of chores – and neither does God. He wants to hear from YOU. He wants to hear about YOU. God wants a relationship with YOU.

Note the difference…

“God, please send lots of kids to Breakout and send enough leaders to teach them”

Or….
“God, you have trusted me with the ministry of your children. You know which children need to know more about you – please send them. You also know the leaders that have a passion for loving these children. Please put this program on their heart”.

The first prayer communicates what I want – lots of kids and enough teachers. But it doesn’t communicate ‘me’. It doesn’t tell what is in my heart and what I truly want. The second prayer is true comm-YOU-nication. It tells God a little bit about me. It tells Him that I know he’s in charge of this program – no matter how many emails, phone calls or letters I send out – He’s in charge of who comes– and those are the children and leaders that I am looking for!

The same thing holds true at home. If I start off telling Morgan – “Hey, I really want to have Saturday afternoon to do fun stuff – and would appreciate it if you cleaned your room in the morning” I‘ll get slightly better results than if I say “Morgan, clean your room”!

It doesn’t matter who you are talking to – or what or where. When you communicate with someone, you are sharing a bit of yourself. Make sure that you deliver what is in your heart … not just what’s on your mind.