The DIY Guide To Building A Family That Lasts - A 6-Day DevotionalSample

Home improvement goal:

Clear up confusion.

Home improvement tool:

Improve communication.

We can have beautiful sinks and faucets, but if our pipes are clogged or leaky, we’ve got problems. Best-case scenario, we’ve got annoying backups or dripping sounds; worst-case scenario, we’ve got corrosion or water damage.

Because communication is similar to the pipes in our homes, when I talk with couples and families about home improvement, I ask, “Are your lines of communication clear, clogged, or leaky?”

Clear lines of communication are those in which people avoid confusion by listening to understand and responding in supportive ways, especially in tense situations. Anyone can listen and be positive in easy situations, but the tense situations are the truer test of our communication skills and commitment to supportive, relationship-building communication.

Examining your own communication strengths and weaknesses and then working to improve those is a good way of leading by example in your family.

What are your communication strengths and weaknesses? How did you develop those strengths and minimize your weaknesses? You might enlist your loved ones to help you identify what your communication strengths and weaknesses are. Ask them, “What do I do to show you that I’m listening?” “What is something you wish I did more of to show you that I care when you’re talking to me?” “Is there something I do or say that gets on your nerves?”

Thankfully, whatever your communication weaknesses are, that’s not the end of the story. We all can and should continually “rewrite” our stories to improve on the old and incorporate new and improved communication habits. And that’s how you do it yourself! 

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