“Don’t Make It Demanding”
A fool gives full vent to his spirit,
But a wise man quietly holds it back.
-Proverbs 29:11
An immature person makes too many demands on others.
In a forum there are several things I find too demanding. You may have a different opinion. It depends on the context and the relationship. But if you think you may be too demanding—ask.
In discussing events and ideas, I’ve found that some people don’t work at all to bridle their tongues.
But other people work hard to put a bridle on anyone ELSE’s tongue that they disagree with (often by the method of quickly jumping to tone policing).
James shows us the right way. We bridle our OWN tongues:
Recently I surveyed a group of my Christian friends and asked, “What is one part of Christian life you wish were easier?”
Thirty people responded, offering insight into their spiritual experience. I reformulated their responses as basic questions about the Christian life. They center on ten topics:
Have you ever had an experience of “Why didn’t I think of that before?” You’re struggling to solve a problem and suddenly you stumble into the obvious answer. You say, “How did this not occur to me?”
Often, when you’re stuck and you can’t think of the right answer, it’s because you’ve skipped a step. You need to work first on asking the right kind of question.
In my recent survey thirty friends described their online reading patterns.
For writers, this is incredibly helpful. I plan to spend some time learning from each of these Christian resources.
