“Say what you mean and mean what you say.” In this unprecedented era of passive aggression, where it seems many of us have lost the ability to directly and effectively communicate with others, this quote loads a wallop! In addition to the passive aggressive spirit, it appears that there is also a huge spirit of communication fear – one that consumes most of our society, keeping us locked in the ‘praise’ cage. All we can seem to do is give praise where it is not warranted and instead of simply having a kind and gentle conversation on a particular topic that we disagree on, we either don’t say anything at all for fear of rocking the boat or we use ugly, negative words to enter into a dialogue. The dialogue at hand inevitably dies right out of the gate. The Internet is a beast that propels ideas out into the world and into the minds of our citizens at a speed we cannot even begin to keep up with. We should, from time to time, counteract certain ideas and thoughts that we know can hurt others – especially if we consider ourselves to be followers of Jesus Christ. “iron sharpens iron.”
Jesus Christ can help with this communication issue as well!