I ran across this old post of mine the other day and cringed at the memory. I’ve been talking lately about the fact that God isn’t finished with me yet. I am a work in progress. I suspect most of you would say the same about yourself. One of the places where I still sometimes struggle is knowing when to speak and when to keep my mouth shut. Through the grace of God, I am SO much better than I once was, but still not entirely where I would like to be. As I tell my younger daughter who has often fallen prey to the same affliction, “some things don’t need to be said out loud.” Both of us are still working on the concept of unexpressed thoughts!
The story below was written in 2008 and you will be glad to know that we have NOT had a repeat encounter. This relationship has been loving and respectful since that incident, largely because we are now quite clear on which subjects to avoid. I guess we are all making progress! Sadly, time has not healed the denominational issues that I reference and much of that conflict continues to this day in a number of denominations. Even now, in many circles, there is still very little listening going on….but that is for another post.
Please enjoy this post on how NOT to behave when visiting relatives: