Authenticity: The Power of Care and Compassion

Good Day To You,

A friend of mine posted this joke recently: “The meteorologist who devised the windchill factor has died. He was 86, but he felt like 70.” This past winter Jenny would laugh and say when she read the morning weather report that it was 47 but feels like 32. “Why don’t they just say it’s 32 outside.”  Sometimes communication is confusing and more complicated that it needs to be. Sometimes we jump to conclusions quickly and judge or assume things about others that are just not true. Steven Covey stated that one should “seek to understand, before they are understood.” 

This axiom has been such a help to me in leading people, counseling, pastoral care and just building bridges of friendship with others. People today want to be heard and valued. And one way I’ve found that opens the heart and reveals the soul as it validates the person sharing is to ask for them to tell their story. Or to ask them to share something of their dream. Seeking to understand what they value or have walked through most often opens up that person to hear your story as well, finding common ground and points of meaningful connection with each other. 

The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly. Prov. 15:12

This truth works in the home, with the kids, the coworker and in the neighborhood. People who are friends with followers of Christ, followers who truly listen and care, will create a greater potential for meaningful dialogue. The more seeking to understand we do, the more those seeking will have a greater understanding of those things eternal.