I meet with a dear sister once a week to check up on one another, to hold one another acountable, to encourage each other and to pray.<P>The piece of gold tidbit I gleaned from her yesterday was in regards to communication. When we think of communication, think of it in vertical and horizontal terms. She says our goal should be that all communication be vertical, that is every word we desire to speak should be run through the "Father" mill first, testing it for clarity, content and acceptability, allowing Him to shear off the uneven edges, plane all splinters, and letting it dry out, reducing it sap content, before we speak to another. <P>That when we speak in the horizontal position, we have a tendency to not weigh our words, and we often spew out garbage, like an unplaned piece of lumber, with knots (lovebusters), the sticky hurtful words like the pine sap that is difficult to remove, the rapid response zingers, like splinters that slide in and fester, eventally erupting from the body's attempt to get rid of infection. <P>It painted a good word picture for me and I think I will have difficulty thinking about "communication" without thinking of it in vertical/horizontal terms from now on.<P>Father, help us in our communcation skills, to bring our words vertical before they ever come across horizontally. IJN

Sue,<BR>This is a great word picture. I went to a retreat last year and they talked about what comes from our lips. It is so vital what we say to others. I always remeber the line from Experiencing God. <BR>"How we act shows others what we believe" This too can apply to our mouths.<BR>"What we say shows others what we believe"<P>Thanks Sue for the reminder!