CLEAR IS KIND!

Let me start off by saying that how you go into a conversation is often how the conversation will end up. If you go into the conversation with negativity, a harsh tone, an attitude you are more than likely to receive the same clap you dished out. There is a book ' Dare to Lead" and one of the biggest well known quotes in that book is " Clear is Kind" Meaning:

Clear is kind" means that being direct, honest, and transparent is ultimately more compassionate than sugarcoating the truth or avoiding difficult conversations.

• Clarity prevents confusion: Softening feedback or skirting around issues leaves people guessing and prevents them from improving.

• Niceness vs. Kindness: Being "nice" often means saying what is easy to avoid discomfort. True kindness takes courage and respects the other person enough to tell them the truth.

• Unclear is unkind: Withholding expectations or failing to provide clear direction sets people up to fail and breeds resentment over time.

This book is a good read and teaches valuable lessons on how to treat others but I know a book that I would like to introduce you to if you are not already familiar with this book and it's called the BIBLE. The bible teaches us through out scripture that Clear is Kind, It also says this in 1 Corinthians 13:4-13

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

My point is treat others how you want to be treated it. If you want others to show love, you show love, you want people to be patient with you, then be patient with them. If you want kindness, Be kind. If you want honesty, be honest and speak the truth in LOVE. Be who God called you to be and that is a fine representation of HIM.....Amen!

It's all Love,

Assistant Pastor Dawn Marie Crowder