Making the Most of It

Public speaking...everyone's favorite pastime, right?

Yeah...not hardly.

But it is a requirement for graduation, and I could put it off no longer.

So I decided to make the most of it and just have fun with it. Turns out...it's one of my favorite classes now. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the teacher is incredibly gifted at teaching and has made this an enjoyable experience. She knows her stuff and is passionately creative about it. And just yesterday, she let us out early. Gotta love that! Go Ms. Kofoed!!!

I'm not just getting more comfortable at giving speeches, but I'm learning to take some risks and to slow down. I've become more confident and have found out a little bit more about myself and how I'm perceived.

I know that public speaking is not what I do best, although my professor says I'm a natural speaker if only I'd slow down! I know I'm not the best speaker in my class, and that's ok. But I own what I do, and I'm just enjoying being myself. Come to find out...I'm considered very personable when giving speeches even if I do sound like a chipmunk on crack. Thus, I'm learning to slow down. 

I maintain that it's not that I speak too fast, it's that people in the South think too slow!

I've enjoyed learning my lesson of how to make the best of a not so desirable situation. I'm praying that will carryover into other areas of life as well. Although the situation definitely requires stretching myself and results in growth, I am finding out that the journey can be a lot of fun in the process. Learning is lifelong, and I'm finally embracing that. And while I'm at it, I'm learning to have fun with it.

It's funny the things God uses to teach us. In this case, public speaking class.  Who knew?

humbly grateful or grumbly hateful?

a few years ago, david spent a few days at a monastery with a group of colleagues. one of the things he said was absolutely prohibited and not tolerated at the monastery was grumbling. now i think i understand why. grumbling changes people. it changes those people who do it, it changes those people who listen to it, it changes those people who are victims of it. even if one doesn't participate in it actively, they become passively involved when they give ear to it which leads to their active participation the more they're around it. they start viewing everything through the filter of the grumbling.

why is it that we are so willing to listen to a lie but not the truth? why is it that we would rather believe what we hear from a grumbler than believe what we see from the one being grumbled about? grumbling destroys people and ministries and relationships. it's a dangerous thing.

i was told as a child that if you aren't the one talking about someone but you listen, you're just as guilty as the one doing the talking. i was told to try to stop it or walk away from it.

the Bible says that we should deal with people honestly, that we should look out for others, that we should love and respect each other. if you have a problem with someone, you should try to work it out. romans 12:18 says, "if it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live at peace with others." there's no peace in grumbling.

we have a choice... humbly grateful or grumbly hateful. what will we choose today?