Communication involves timing. Knowing when to speak, when to ask questions, share an idea or opinion or when to keep your mouth shut…all requires keen attention to the environment you are in. Have you ever “stuck your foot in your mouth” because you said something in jest - meaning no harm but the timing was bad? Oh boy…I am king guilty when it comes to speaking out of turn at times. In building relationships, making a sale, marketing an idea, dealing with conflict, or in a meeting, timing in communication can produce much fruit or can dampen and destroy situations and people.

Psalm 19:14 is one of my favorite prayers. “May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

Helpful hints to develop your timing:

• Be an interactive listener. Give honest attention to those talking to you.
• Learn to understand and read people’s emotions and state of mind before you talk. You can do this by asking questions about the persons day.
• If you are an “Attention seeker or you like talking about yourself”, you need to be careful of this desire. Keep yourself in check during conversations. Talk less, interact with your ears more.
• Learn to ask good questions about others.

Proverbs 21:23 says - “If you keep your mouth shut, you will stay out of trouble.” This passage reminds me to watch my words and pray that the timing of my conversations keep me out of mischief.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 22nd, 2007 at 9:21 pm and is filed under Leadership, Relationships, Volunteers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.