I have been teaching in one capacity or another for over 30 years. I have learned in that time that the art of being a good teacher is really the art of being a good listener. In conversations with one another, if we are truly interested in the people we are speaking to, we are going to be listening to hear if what we are saying resonates with them. If we do not have a quiet spirit then we will not be able to hear the still small voice that guides us and leads us down the path of right communication. It is important to remember that it is not about us, but it is about the people who are around us.
To be a great singer you must be a great listener also. You must be able to hear when you are in key, when to place a note at just the right moment and with the right inflection. You must be able to blend with the other instruments and complement the music as a whole. In order for this to happen, you must be able to hear what the other instruments are doing, and with sensitivity, add your voice to blend perfectly into the music. When you are in harmony with the other instruments it is inspiring and takes the music to new heights. But if you are out of key then this brings discord to the music and discord is strife.
There is a correlation between our communication with each other and music. With speaking and with music we must listen. In music there is a time and place for everything and it is the same with speaking, we must be sensitive to when and where that time and place is. I am sure that all of us have experienced speaking the wrong word at the wrong time and someone gets hurt. Sometimes it is hard to undo something that has inappropriately flown out of our mouth.
The voice is the purest of all instruments because it comes direct from the soul. The beauty that comes from a great voice is amazing and inspiring. When someone has mastered their instrument it is a sight to behold, and so it is with someone who has mastered their words.
It is very important to remember when we are speaking to one another that the voice is meant to be revered, and unless we protect our words we will not live up to the potential God has placed inside of us. It is with God’s voice that the world was created, and it was also with the voice that the enemy of God brought deception into the world. The bible says in Proverbs 18:21 that “life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it eat its fruit.”
If we determine in our heart to be representatives of life we will have favor with those around us. The words we speak become our legacy because they produce what we release them to do. Are our words angry and full of bitterness? Are they selfish and manipulative? Or are they full of kindness and caring for the wellbeing of others?
Everyday each one of us has a choice to make. We can either choose to speak words of life to those around us, or hurtful insensitive words of death.
Proverbs explains it perfectly.
Proverbs 10:11 “The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but hostility covers the mouth of the perverse and ungodly.”
Proverbs 10:6 “Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.”
Proverbs 10:32 “The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaks perversity and fraud.”
Proverbs 11:11 “By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.”
We really do have the power to change the world around us, and this is why we should guard our hearts with all diligence for out of it springs (through our mouth) the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23).
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