DAY THREE: A WALK IN SILENCE

Do not judge, or you too will be judged.   For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?   How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. -Matthew 7:1-5

Last Sunday, my wife and I were traveling back home from a family reunion.  Along the way, we entered into a conversation about people and situations.  About five minutes into our banter, I turned to my wife and said, " maybe I'm too critical of people".  Her response.  Not a word.  You'd have thought she was exercising a week of Prayer Silence.  "Thanks for the dialogue", I said rather disgusted.  "Well maybe you are", she finally offered.  Okay, maybe I am.  But am I any more than others, I thought.

Day Three of my Walk in Silence led me to think more about what God expects of me.  How he wants me to think of others.   Matthew 7:1-5 provided the great eye opener if you listen to the words.  Recently, I read about an individual that had passed away.  "You never heard him say a bad word about anyone", the article said.  "He always had something good to say about people".  Geesh.  I'm sure you've heard the same type of eulogy.  You've no doubt known someone with the same character.  Would you say that was a gift?  It might very well be.

Regardless, this has been my Day Three eye-opener.  Keep still.  If you don't have something good to say about someone, don't say it.  That's not to suggest I won't have differences of political persuasions or frustrations with my favorite sports teams...but that's another opinion altogether.  Thanks God for the challenge, I think.  Afterall, I'm not the judge.  "All I can do is try", signed your faithful servant.      

Glad I'm Not That Judge.....Ooops, Sorry

I also had another thought on Day Three.  Picture this.  You are about to have an important business meeting and you suddenly lose your voice.  What do you do?  Cancel it?  Or get creative?  How about if something like this happened. 

Realizing your voice isn't coming back anytime soon, you jot down your situation on a piece of paper, xerox it and hand it out to the staff.  You ask each person at the table to list one or two key responses to the problem at hand on a piece of paper.  From there you put the points on a board so everyone can see. You point to one, then another and seek input via notepads.  No one has a voice stronger than another.  Problems could be discussed without all the additional rhetoric....and everyone can share their views.  We are a meeting to death society.  We spend more time in meetings accomplishing little and wasting productive time.  Imagine too, "engaged" employees at the meeting table, rather than ones who offer little and are more a distraction to others.  You never know.  Silence can be a good thing.  I'm seeing that more and more each day.     

Well, it's on to day Four.  Just about the half-way mark on this Walk in Silence.  Gotta run.....er Go.  God has something to say to me and I want to hear what it is.

YGG,

John