Understanding

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day, that you had a great Valentine's Day and that a great week is coming to a close for you.

I want to share a few quotes, thoughts, scriptures, ideas, etc. with you on this beautiful Friday morning.

• The leadership thought/idea I have been studying this week is taken from The Seven Leadership Qualities of Great Leaders by Brian Tracy: "Cooperation - Your ability to get everyone working and pulling together is essential to your success. Leadership is the ability to get people to work for you because they want to. Gain the cooperation of others by making a commitment to get along well with each key person every single day." Without understanding, there will be no cooperation.
• From my Bible reading yesterday morning: "Do you want a long, good life? Then watch your tongue! Keep your lips from lying. Turn from all known sin and spend your time in doing good. Try to live in peace with everyone; work hard at it." - Psalm 34: 12 - 14 My Spirit tells me that if I am going to live in peace with everyone, if I am really going to work hard at it, I am going to first have to seek to understand them.
• This morning I was listening to the radio as I was doing my reading. Jason Gray, a Christian musician, was on and he said a few things that I found profound. He said, "We are more alike in our weaknesses than we are in our strengths." He went on to say, "Weaknesses are how we recognize each other." Makes me wonder if this is why we sometimes don't like others...they look to much like us!  Anyways, he also stated, "When we hide our weaknesses we hide the grace of God." Wow!
• I want to share a few quotes with you. These popped up when I googled "quotes about understanding others":

          "When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." - Ernest Hemingway

          "Whenever you feel like criticizing any one...just remember that all the people in this world
            haven't had the advantages that you've had." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

          "I don't like that man. I must get to know him better." Abraham Lincoln

          "We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more  
            in the light of what they suffer." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

          "When you really know somebody you can't hate them. Or maybe it's just that you can't
            really know them until you stop hating them." Orson Scott Card

What would happen Friends if we were really to strive each and every day to understand others? What would happen, if instead of trying to be right or have our way, we sought to really understand the other person, their thoughts, their ideas, the struggles? I am not saying that we would have to agree with them, take on their thoughts/ideas as our own, etc. I am simply saying that we take the time to see the other person, to truly seek to understand them - the person. We all have strengths & weaknesses, good ideas & bad ideas, etc. and we all have hopes, dreams, goals and yes, a purpose. We all do.

It is interesting to me. There seems to be a whole lot of talking in our world today, the espousing of thoughts, ideas, opinions, etc. There doesn't seem to be a lot of listening. Listening is how we learn, listening is how we understand. Don't we all, at our core, truly want to be understood? We want our thoughts, our hopes, our goals, our dreams to matter to someone, to anyone. We want to be understood. Have you ever noticed how rude we have become as a society? We will talk over the other person and we love to raise our voices. All done in an attempt to make sure our view, our thought, our idea, our opinion is heard...all at the loss of understanding. If I am talking over you, talking so loud that I can't hear you, it is a certainty that I will not be able to understand you.

On this beautiful Friday morning I would like to propose, to challenge us, to have an understanding heart. That today, and each day forward, we would truly seek to understand others. That while our thoughts, ideas, opinions, goals, hopes & dreams matter, we will recognize, understand & appreciate the fact that others do as well.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev