I enjoy hanging out with the glass is half-full kind of people! But when you're down, having a rough day, sometimes you need your friend to stop whistling and just listen. It can be very healing to have them so identify with you that they get choked up with you, hurt with you. Show they care through their emotions.Wisdom words for February 25 - Proverbs 25:20: "Singing cheerful songs to a person whose heart is heavy is as bad as stealing someone's jacket in cold weather or rubbing salt in a wound."
Wow, timing is pretty important! Check out these verses from Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter three. They are real cool; especially verse 11.
Listening includes hearing more than just words (men: clue note - when that special woman, a wife or girlfriend, starts sharing their frustrations, don't try to fix the situation or give them advice. Listen for the emotion/s they're experiencing and try to affirm what you hear them feeling. Like this, "You must feel like you can't go on -this is too much for you!/?" If tears cascade from her lovely face and she hugs you like the last leaf of fall then you did good identifying the emotion. You just hit a home run! You listened deeper than the words.)
Don't try to fix things; just listen to feelings beneath the words. So, that advice was free, and NO, I'm not related to Dr. Phil.
So much of life is about momentum Pastor John Bishop is a strong leader because he has an incredible gift of keeping momentum rolling. Vision, passion, creating a clear, believable, desirable picture helps us press on towards that which is most important in our lives. What's the momentum like in your life right now? What areas are lacking hope? Are you praying a lot about these areas? Do you visualize God already answering you?.
This picture of the little girl crying is by a very famous photographer, Jill Greenberg. She is known for her Monkey exhibit. She created a huge controversy in 2006 with this series on emotions in which she highly stylized children in her studio having a piece of candy taken away from them. If you're an artist type or just curious - check it out.
2 comments:
Great Blogs the past few days, especially today. I tend to be a glass half empty kind of guy anymore, alternating between bitter and brittle, but it's a good lesson to not always whistle SAD songs when talking to others. Particularly those who don't need to hear that same old tune on those days when they are feeling a hammer pounding them down. Good advice well spoken.
Bruce, I realize you have a lot on your mind. I hope you find the peace that passeth understanding soon enough. Or at least what ever passes for peace in these circumstances.
Just one more quick comment on your Blog from yesterday. I've been chuckling all day about your "Mooning" object lesson. Having been on both ends (so to speak) of those kind of adventures during my misspent youth, I could certainly relate. It's easy to fall into the trap of enjoying retribution when we should be asking for patience and understanding. It's the "try to walk a mile in their shoes" argument, and it's a good one.
Thanks for the lesson and the laughs.
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