What Is A Wordless Shut up?

Family should be primary. Family is the testing ground of the soul, and of the heart. Family will reveal what is really going on deep inside of a person.

Like, when I’m slow to listen to some strange, and then get home only to shut my wife or kids down in a middle of a sentence. You can tell your wife and kids to shut up without ever saying the words if they feel rushed to speak when they are around you. (I call it a wordless shut up)

It would be easy for me to excuse away my shortness with meaningless rational, but I would still be left with the fact that something on the inside is not right. If I will listen…if you will listen…family time is a great place to get your compass realigned.

I spend much time making or trying to make people I come into contact with feel great about their lives, that they matter, that they are heard, but there are many times I fail at home when it comes to my own family. It would do each of us well to not forget that family is our first priority.

So what’s the answer?

• I will listen slower and longer to what my wife, son and daughter have to say when I get home.
• I will give them the same respect and time, if not more, than I give a passing stranger seeking my advice.
• I will… because it is simply right.
• I will… because it’s my call and my joy and my responsibility.

What about you?