What Are You Communicating?

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day and an awesome week coming to a close for you!

Earlier this week I came across something in Ed Hindson’s book, “Trusting God When Times Are Tough” – have ya’ll figured out I love this book yet?!?! Here is what it said:

            “We are all in the process of communicating something. We may be

            communicating warmth, love, and acceptance, or anger, bitterness, and hostility

-  all of which originate from our inner feelings. What we need to ask ourselves is

whether we are helping or hurting others by what we are communicating.”

Please note that whatever we are communicating – whether it is good or bad, helping or hurting – originates from our inner feelings. It is really easy to say the right things, to give the right answers, to act a certain way at times, etc. however what we really believe, what we really feel at the heart level will ultimately be revealed in what we communicate – verbally and/or non-verbally. It is impossible Friends to consistently violate our spirits and our communications will ultimately reveal our true selves.

·        My 7-year old Preacher was watching a movie on his little DVD player this week. I interrupted him, asked him to turn it off and come be with Dad. Without even a second of hesitation he turned it off, came over, sat down beside me, said “I love you Daddy. What do you want to do?” If only I was half the communicator as this Precious Blessing!!! AND I am not talking about the words he spoke. While my heart is genuinely touched when I hear this 7-year old voice say, “I love you Daddy”, it was what he communicated through his actions that overwhelmed me. He communicated love, respect, a desire to be with me…all by simply turning of a DVD player immediately when he knew I wanted to spend time with him. I was his priority. Period. He communicated this loud and clear. How many times have I had to “respond to a text real quick” or told him that I would come see something that he was excited to show me “after this play.” What did those actions on my part communicate to him? Oh heart be still! Lord please forgive me! Precious Baby Boy please forgive me! Lord PLEASE lead this Beautiful Woman and these three incredible boys through me!

·        Yesterday I was walking out the door to go to work and my cell phone rang. It was my 16-year old son, calling at a time he wasn’t supposed to be calling me. I answered and he said, “Dad, can you come here.” This is not good when he left less than 5 minutes prior to drive himself to school. He then said, “I have been in a car accident.” I calmly replied – thank you Lord for answering my prayer of leading this family through me!!! – “Are you hurt?” He said, “No.” I said, “Is the other driver hurt?” He said, “No.” “Praise the Lord” I silently prayed and then responded, “I will be right there.” I pulled up and saw my 16-year old son, suddenly looking much younger than the man he is becoming, sitting in his car and a 20-something year old, who was noticeably shaken, sitting in his car as well. In this moment I was very aware that my every word, look and action was going to communicate something to both of them. Funny how God always prepares our hearts isn’t it? My spirit was incredibly calm, I felt genuine compassion for both of them and my love – genuine, unconditional love – for my son was growing deeper by the moment. Interestingly I really didn’t say much at all. I asked both of them if they were o.k., I helped them both fill out their accident reports after the officer arrived and I answered “no, I am just thankful your o.k. son” to my son 15 to 20 times as he repeatedly asked, “are you mad at me?” My body language, my disposition, my look and my words all communicated to both of them that I genuinely care about you, I am genuinely thankful that you are o.k. and I will do anything I can to help either one of you in this moment. They all communicated this because that is truly what I felt. Thank you Lord for leading me through those moments.

So my question, my challenge, for all of us – starting right now in this moment – is what are we going to communicate? Know this Friends; we are communicating something…all the time. Is it warmth, love & acceptance or is it anger, bitterness & hostility? That is a choice Friends that you and I are going to make every single moment of every single day. It begins with the condition of our heart and is released through our words, our disposition and our actions.

Please let me know if there is ever anything I can do for any of you or your families. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish those precious families & friends.

Kev