My apologies to you all. I thought I'd scheduled posts for the last couple weeks, but something happened. They didn't post! I didn't check to be sure they posted, and when I went to schedule next week's I discovered the goof. My apologies! Here's what should've posted earlier this week:
A friend of mine had a birthday last week, so I guess I've had him and his family on my mind. His sister used to quote the following a lot:
A friend of mine had a birthday last week, so I guess I've had him and his family on my mind. His sister used to quote the following a lot:
"I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant." (Thanks, Robert McCloskey)
Even when we use "I-Statements," misunderstanding is rampant in human communication. We project our own hopes, feelings, prejudices onto the other person. They do it to us. It happens. Where we "are" and where we have "been" will "color" our perceptions as surely as a three-year-old will "Crayola-fy" color the living room wall with her crayons.
Be on guard, because Satan will happily take this little fact and run with it, causing as much havoc as possible. We have to listen to what's behind the words to get the full picture, and we have to be very self-aware to understand how we receive others' words. Ernest Hemingway said, "When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.”
Listen!
There's a difference between hearing and listening!
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