More like a curse than a blessing ...

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If you wake your friend in the early morning by shouting “Rise and shine!” It will sound to him more like a curse than a blessing. A nagging spouse is like the drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet; You can’t turn it off, and you can’t get away from it. -Proverbs 27:14-16 MSG

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You have probably heard the saying "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" but I wonder if it would be just as accurate to substitute "ear" for "eye". It would certainly be true about music - we all have our own tastes ... some love country music and some hate it. Beautiful sounds are so very personal yet I think that we take a more generic approach when we speak to each other. Often we regurgitate advice with no regard for the way that a person might "hear" it.

In these verses Solomon speaks about the interpersonal dynamic that exists when we speak to each other. A cheerful "Good Morning" from a co-worker can come across so bad when we have not had a good night's sleep. A spouse's loving reminder can be perceived as nagging if their relationship with you is already strained. It is why we must try to put ourselves in the place of the one who is hearing our words - beauty is often in the ear of the beholder. :)

Lord, help us to put ourseleves in the place of the one who is hearing our words.

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