Normal translation:
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
Word on the Street bible:
Guys, are you taking notes? Get this down: How many ears you got? Two. How many mouths? One. Two to one's about the right ratio. Listen twice as much as you talk. And put an extension on that short fuse of yours, 'cos losing your cool doesn't help you live right as God wants.
When it is put in terms like that...I am convicted about how much I love to open my big, fat mouth and talk. Sometimes, I can be a really bad listener. Sometimes I can have a short fuse. I do my best to hide those facts in hopes of being perceived as somebody who is a good listener and really patient...but most don't know what's going on inside my head.
While you're sharing, I can be reminiscing over a past memory, figuring out what I'm going to eat for lunch, and singing a song in my head all at the same time. While you vent to me about the same thing for the 3rd time because you need to sort out what's going on and need the verbal process time, my eyes are rolling inside my head.
I promise that's not me all the time...
but it happens a lot more frequently than I would ever like to admit.
I want to be a good listener. I want to be patient. I want to be the person Christ has called me to be. It is a lifelong challenge I am going to fail at constantly but am willing to pursue diligently.
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