Miscommunication

At times, I think I am one of the worst people in trying to convey a message.  My brain will be thinking one thought and inevitably my words will be jumbled in a text message.  I will immediately receive a response back stating, “What?” 

Recently, a dear friend relayed the humorous but embarrassing message that her college-age son sent to his college-age girlfriend who was in Florida on a scuba diving trip.  The girlfriend had posted on Facebook that she was sunburned.  My friend’s son reply was auto-corrected (don’t we just LOVE that little feature on text or social media).  He thought he was posting, “Why are you sunburned?  Aren’t you underwater?” Instead, the message said, “Why are you sunburned?  Aren’t you in underwear?”  Oops!  Thankfully, the girlfriend and her parents knew this young man’s character and knew immediately that the reply was a blooper.  Everyone had a big laugh but my poor friend’s son was so embarrassed. 

Miscommunication is a common occurrence in the ministry world.  If unresolved, it can lead to disunity among the church body and can ruin friendships.  It can often lead to gossip and damage reputations.  More importantly when miscommunication happens within the church and causes disunity, it damages the church’s witness in the community. 

Sadly, miscommunication is in every area of our lives.  I cannot tell you how many times I have had to apologize for stating something the wrong way or in an unloving way. Once I had a terrible experience with a company.  As I called to talk to a representative about the issue, I became even more frustrated with the situation and took it out on the poor person on the other end of the line.  After the phone call ended and I had a couple of hours of cooling off, God impressed on me to call the representative back and apologize.  Thankfully, I had a direct number to her desk.   I made the call and the woman was in shock.  She told me that no one had ever called to apologize to her for their mistakes.  Girls, I pray my words did not prevent this woman from forming a distaste for Christians.

As ministers’ wives, it is hard sometimes not to lash out at the people in our congregation.  I want to challenge each of us to find ways to carefully communicate in loving ways to the people around us.