We need to have them. We put them off. Why? Because they’re difficult!
We don’t know what to say, or how to say it. Will it be misconstrued? I have a degree in communication and psychology. You’d think I’d be better at it! But it’s impossible!
You could be reading this right now and we need to have a conversation. Maybe it was a misunderstanding, or we just haven’t spoken in years. Maybe you need to hear a hard truth. Maybe I do. In any case, it’s torturous.
But careful, said conversations could actually do more harm than good. Wisdom is required. “Slow to speak.” That whole thing.
Maybe your stories need to be 50% shorter. I don’t know. Should I tell you that? Sometimes I’d like to. But maybe I just need to suck it up. After all, it’s only twenty minutes out of my life.
People smell bad occasionally. Whose job is it to speak up? I’m saying it’s the guy’s wife. If he has no wife, a representative should be appointed to him. But not me.
Nor do I want to be in charge of church problems. Whether it’s the color of the carpet or the pastor caught in sin. I’m leaving that to some other masochist. I’ve got enough on my plate keeping a wife and grown kids happy.
Difficult conversations? Inevitable. But choose wisely. And remember, not choosing is a choice. That choice can make your plight notably worse. For instance, in 1981 I had a friend at work who talked incessantly. He was still talking when I left in 1989.
He’s the reason I quit.
Maybe I should call him.