GENTLE WORDS (Day 4 of 6)
Need to start at the beginning? Day 1
In your practice this week, where did you find it more difficult to speak gently and thoughtfully?
A soft and gentle and thoughtful answer turns away wrath, but harsh and painful and careless words stir up anger. Proverbs 15:1 AMP
I’m a bottom-liner. I tend to think and speak short and sweet. If I keep it sweet, most people can handle it. If the sweetness level drops, I sound blunt and a bit grumpy.
And there are just times when I have to share more details to make my message kinder. I have to choose to step out of my norm and that takes effort on my part. If I’m tired or hot (working in the garden) that is harder to do.
The other struggle is when you’re ticked off at someone. Being gentle and thoughtful is far harder. It’s easy to excuse our own fussiness because they “deserve” it or they “need” it to get their attention.
One of my experiments (I do that from time to time) is to slip into gentle talk when life is most chaotic or I’m dealing with a particularly difficult person. Folks tend to get cranky when they feel unheard and/or unvalued. It’s a bit hard to break in sometimes, but a gentle voice and a caring question tends to calm everyone down. Simple grace when people are acting badly.
Tilly spends a fair amount of time playing in the garden while I’m out working.
This is her afternoon nap … inside … where it’s cool. Smart kitty.
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Image credits – hot tired woman © Katarina / Adobe Stock, tomato plants © Lori / Doing Marriage Well
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