Listening, Speaking & Anger

Do you want to be a better leader, spouse, or friend? If so, take to heart what James is teaching on listening, speaking, and anger in Chapter 1.

Listening actively and with empathy will change how you connect with people. This will make you a leader people want to follow, a spouse we want to grow with, or a friend who wants to hang out with us! James tells us to be quick to listen and slow to speak!

I don’t know about you, but this has been a challenge for me because I want to fix something right when I hear it! But… James wants us to slow down with our verbal responses and really listen actively with intent – practice patience.

This is not natural for me so I literally have to put my hand over my mouth, redirect my brain not to speak, tell it to stay calm, and then JUST listen. This is a skill that takes practice and must be developed.

Then James goes into teaching us to be slow to become angry! Yikes! This was a spiritual check for me today! (love it when God gives us exactly what we need when we need it through His Word!)

Through my faith walk over the last several years, I have learned to hold my tongue more often than not, but the anger thing! Ugh… This I fail at often, even though you can’t see it!

Let me explain…I may not show my anger to the person in front of me but I am quick to get angry inside of myself. This is a form of deceit and another topic for another blog, but a real thing I do!

I get all caught up in my feelings and just get myself all worked up inside over what I am hearing – this is still anger even if I keep it hidden.

James says that human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Yikes again!

Anger (either shown or hidden deep inside us) is not what God desires, we become out of alignment with His desire, we are not right with Him. We must let go of the anger for real or even better not even go there. When we read the Word and understand it, we then must take action! #itiswritten

We all want flourishing relationships – at work or at home – so we encourage you to follow James’ advice…

Be quick to listen

Slow to speak

Slow to become angry

Develop these listening and emotional skills, then watch your relationships connect and grow.

Stay Rooted,Lisa