Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
Ephesians 4:15, NIV
I apologize for being sporadic in my musings. These past few weeks have involved wrapping up the school year and taking a few days break to celebrate my birthday and wedding anniversary. I hope to continue to inspire and encourage you through the Summer.
Today, I want to continue to unfold the concepts of "speaking the truth in love." I have often heard this verse used to back the legitimate effort of correcting others. While I do not disagree, I believe there is a fuller sense of love found in our communication. When we practice using words that come from a connected heart and motivation of love, there will be less correction needed.
For the past two weeks, we have spoken about the positive side of speaking the truth in love. These include such spiritual practices as speaking appreciations, encouragements, and affirmations to others. The whole world is in need of a "good word" today. We are all subject to the vortex of the world that keeps us looking at the negative side of life. Through comparing, judging, and forgetting our identity as children of God, we can miss our "blessing opportunities" in the lives of those around us.
On Sunday as we practiced appreciations and affirmations with one another, many if not all of us realized that there was hesitancy, awkwardness, and a stilted feel to this exercise. When sharing about that, a few observations were made. First, we felt out of practice in "seeing and saying the good" in others. Second, we felt that the practice should be more spontaneous, but as we know, we haven't been spontaneous enough. The last observation was that many did not grow up in a family that was liberal in praise so it seems out of our element to do so.
All that being said, everyone you meet today could use a lift. As Proverbs 25:11 reminds us, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver." There is a beautiful gift we can give each other if we take time to be aware and grace one another with "the truth in love." Find someone today to encourage, appreciate, affirm and bless.
Love, Pastor Stuart