Seek to Understand - Wednesday July 31, 2013
He who gives an answer before he hears, it is folly and shame to him...The ear of the wise seeks knowledge. Proverbs 18:13, 15...be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. James 1:19
I was baffled. For the entire morning, my normally sensible husband inexplicably kept contradicting something that was totally obvious to me. I looked at the ceiling fan again and traced its motion with my finger. It was obviously turning counter-clockwise, and yet he'd insisted that it was going clockwise. With my finger following the movement, I could feel its motion swirling around me, a vortex of wind inscribing an imaginary circle on the floor. Definitely counter-clockwise! It was very puzzling!
Determined to solve the mystery, I pondered this for several hours and kept going back to look at the fan. Suddenly something clicked. What if he was describing the fan's motion on the ceiling? With renewed inspiration I switched my perspective and-shock of all shocks-the mystery was solved. The motion became clockwise in my eyes! Because I'd been tenacious in seeking to comprehend my husband's emphatic statements, I came to understand his point of view. We didn't have to decide who was "right," but instead we could just understand and validate each other's perspective.
Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Good advice! Seek to listen instead of being a know-it-all. Sometimes this takes time and requires putting yourself into the other person's perspective. But by listening carefully in order to understand other people, you will build lasting love and true intimacy-a glory to God!
Submitted by:
Rita Bergen
Lee's Summit Community Church
Lee's Summit, Missouri
One-Year Reading Plan:
2 Chronicles 29:1-36
Romans 14:1-23
Psalms 24:1-10
Proverbs 20:12
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