by Ron Fast
Tuesday
Ingredients of good Communication
Communication is so important in all of our relationships. Most of the time when you argue and fight or clash with your parental units, it’s because of a lack of communication, someone said something wrong or blew up because they didn’t know all of the facts.
I want you to brainstorm for a moment and write down everything (five will do) that you can think of that is necessary for good communication between you and your parents.
Which are the two most important?
Do you do these things two things?
Wednesday
What does the Word say about words?
Let’s dig into the Book and see what it has to say about communication. Believe it or not, they struggled with communication back in Jesus’ time. Read each of the following verses and draw a line connecting the verse with the correct communication truth.
Re-read Eph 4:32 - Notice that this is a command. God does not ask us to be “kind and compassionate” to each other. He expects us to be that way. Why are we expected to treat others this way?
Thursday
Get a Clue
In order for us to be able to communicate well with our parents or anyone else for that matter, we must know when to say something and when we need to not say anything. Each of us needs to become “People Readers”. We need to know how to act or to be patient and wait based on clues from others. There are several different tools that we can use to help us communicate better or help us read others.
Use the tools to help answer the following questions.
1. Sometimes, before you ask your mom or dad a question, you need to figure out what their mood is like. How do you know when your mom or dad is angry?
2. Timing is sometimes very helpful in being able to communicate clearly to your parents. How can you tell if it’s a good time to ask your parents a question?
3. As we grow up and mature, we use different methods of getting our parent’s attention. What do you do to get your parent’s attention? How do they know that you want to talk to them?
4. How do you communicate to your parents that you are upset and need to talk to them?
Now, for each one of the previous questions, write down a couple of things that you think would help you to communicate better.
Question 1:
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2.
Question 2:
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2.
Question 3:
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2.
Question 4:
1.
2.
Friday
Taming the Tongue
The Bible is full of stuff that helps us know how to be the Christians that God wants us to be. James is one of those kinds of books. James is a cool book because it gives us a blueprint on how to walk with God. It’s a “How to” book for Christians. One of the things that James talks about is the tongue and its power.
On the next page there is a crossword puzzle. Use the clues (not too tough) below to fill in the puzzle. First, read James 3:2-10, then work on the puzzle.
Saturday
Putting it all together
Now, take the words from the crossword puzzle you did yesterday and write them down in the space below. (Don’t worry about the order of the words)
1.
2.
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4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
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Now that you have listed all of the words from the puzzle, I want you to put them together in a sentence that describes what James 3:2-10 is all about. You don’t have to use all of the words but use as many as you can. What’s the theme for James 3:2-10?
Things to remember about communicating
1. Good communication takes time to develop. It won’t happen overnight.
2. Even adults have a hard time communicating sometimes.
3. When someone is talking to you, “read” them and see what kind of mood they are in before answering or asking a question.
4. If you have some tough truth to say to someone, spend time in prayer before you open your mouth.
5. Always think before you talk.
6. If you are angry, it’s probably not a good time to talk to someone. Take a “time out” for a day or two.
7. You are only responsible for your actions and words, not your parents.
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Ron Fast is the author of G-TRAX Devo's, Biblical devotionals for youth. G-TRAX Devo’s are now available online at www.youthministrydevotionals.com in an interactive form. He has over 9 years of experience working with Junior High and Middle School students. His personal mission is “to make the Bible relevant to today’s youth”.
