Here's a little third grade classroom wisdom I absorbed.
Words and perspective are two robust parts of communication. A wise person once pointed out that when third graders write they have 1,813 things going on. They're trying to remember the shape of the letters, how they sound, to put the letter on the line, etc. (Let me add that in my first year of teaching I tried to, and painfully did, get young 8 year olds to write a five paragraph paper at the beginning of the year-oops.) So all of this is going on in their brains, and I'm upset over spelling! All the while, I'm trying to get them to write a paragraph when they've only recently learned to write complete sentences, which resulted in feeling like a failure. A wise person once taught me how to improve writing by using descriptive words- not just adjectives folks- but descriptive verbs. Words that show instead of tell. This is something I was able to grow into and then pass on to my students. I took these two moments and realized something I hope I always remember. You never know where people come from. You can assume you know, but your assumption is based on your life, your experiences- you. Your words are incredibly powerful, and they should be carefully chosen, because words often show quite a lot about you- even when you don't mean for them to show bad, or even if you mean for them to show good. At the end of the day, what you meant to say is not what you always say, and what you meant to say is not always heard. While it's often very difficult, you have to meet people where they are. Think about it. How annoyed do you get when someone asks you to leave your comfy spot on the couch to come tend to that person's needs? (I'm just keeping it real.) So even when life is difficult or people are difficult, your words and actions are important. People's perspective is huge, and while you think you know where they come from you probably truly don't. You'll never know how what you said was heard, because you haven't lived that person's life. It's amazing how egocentric we are. I'm incredibly guilty. I get so wrapped up in me, me, and what I have going on that I so embarrassingly lose sight of others. I think about Christ, and His lasting and infectious ministry. He reached people. People came to Him. People listened to Him. People responded to Him. But Christ also went to people- He met them at their lowest points and loved them anyway. Christ listened and cares for people. He spoke and ministered to people. People also rejected Him. They didn't listen to Him. They mocked Him. You never know what people are going through, what stage of life they're at, if they've learned how to deal with that life experience or not, or what their mind is processing. Remember words and perspective are powerful and love others like Jesus loves you.
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