The Art of Timing

I must confess: I am growing to absolutely love the book of Proverbs in the Bible. Why, you ask? Because it is jam-packed full of practical, put-into-action wisdom for our daily lives.

This morning I read this:

If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse. - Proverbs 27:14

Immediately it hit me: So many times in life WHEN we do something is just as important as WHAT we do. In short, timing really can be everything.

Think for a moment about what this proverb is teaching and you'll see it's completely true! No one likes a neighbor who loudly and obnoxiously blesses them with a way-too-early wake up call. The proverb is saying that even if you're trying to bless someone or encourage them, it can be done at the wrong time.

Consider this:

• You need to address a failure or misstep on the part of a co-worker or staff member. It's probably not best to do it in the immediate aftermath of the mess. Give the situation some time to cool down.
• You want to encourage your child to do better at a specific task. That's great! But having that conversation 2 minutes after they've just failed that task is probably not the best time for the rah-rah speech.
• You want to call and have a long conversation with an old friend. It's probably not best to call during family dinner time.
• The list goes on and on....

Here's what wisdom is: It's doing the RIGHT THING in the RIGHT WAY at the RIGHT TIME.

It's not just about WHAT we do. If we're really focusing on blessing others, we'll also consider the WAY and the WHEN of how we go about it. That ensures that the blessings we want to pass on to others stay as real blessings and aren't taken as something else altogether!