I was reading some writings by Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, and he wrote,” We need to stop monkeying around.” My Dad used to say that to us boys as we grew up on the farm. It is interesting that a phrase as weird as “monkeying around” could persevere in use for over 2,000 years. I read one chapter of the book of Proverbs by Solomon every day, and it was written over 1000 years before Marcus Aurelius. Almost every chapter has words and phrases still used today as we communicate. Communication is a fascinating topic to think about. The ability to communicate varies tremendously from person to person.

My ministry, my job, my responsibility is to communicate the truth about God and His message to us in a way that is clear and understandable. Almost everything I teach or speak aloud, I write down. Writing is the most effective way to make what I want to say clear. I don’t read what I wrote when I speak, but I do have a condensed set of notes to help keep me on track. In everyday conversations, I hear a lot of people who are poor communicators; it is very hard to understand what they are trying to say. I also hear people who are exceptionally good at communicating. I try to learn from both, and as I listen to them, I try to identify practices and methods that help or hurt their communication. Probably the number one problem in clear communication is talking too much. I am sure the reason people talk too much is that they are trying to explain what they mean more clearly, but it has the opposite effect. There is a built-in result of being concise: we become clearer.