Miscommunication, Funny but True
by Katherine Kehler
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"Do not judge, and you will not be judged" (Luke 6:37).
Sometimes I am amazed at how easily the things we say can be misconstrued. Usually, because of partial information. Several years ago I had two dental implants put into my lower jaw. As you know, people come and go out of a person’s life and Nancy, my new co-worker, hadn’t been working for me when I had this surgery.
I began to have trouble with one of the implants - it hurt and was bleeding - so I made an appointment to have it checked out. As I left the office I told Nancy,
"One of my implants is bleeding. I am driving into Vancouver to have it checked."
Not knowing what "implants" I was referring to, Nancy thought that I was very open about my personal life, but was too gracious to say anything.
The problem turned out to be a piece of toothbrush bristle that had lodged itself between my gum and the implant. The problem was easily corrected. On the way back to the office, I called Nancy and told her,
"The problem is corrected, it was a piece of toothbrush bristle lodged in the flesh."
Once I was back in the office, we began talking and I suddenly realized that Nancy was unaware I was referring to my "dental" implants. She had been thinking,
"She brushes them with a toothbrush? Weird!"
Miscommunication. It was not intentional, but because of partial information, my words were completely misunderstood.
That experience reminded me that many times we make hasty judgements about something a person does or says. We often have critical thoughts about someone when we don’t have all the information to make a sound judgement. We need to be slow to make judgements.
Father, I am so glad You look at our hearts and not at our sad efforts to communicate. Enable us to be as gracious with others as we would want others to be gracious with us. Amen.
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