Conversation Is An Art

"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how to answer every man." (Col.4:6) This may be a tough request for many of us, but nevertheless; it is what God wants from us. We need to work at it. It is part of the "good fight." Let us develop conversation skills. When we write something on paper or type it via computer; we can usually look it over and correct what we said. Jesus states in Matt. 12:34: "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Many pencils have erasors. But in the course of interchange of thoughts by means of spoken words; there are no erasors. I remember the days I was a teacher at the junior high level. A young person would offend someone and then say "trick" or "trix" or "psych." Sometimes we hear the words: "just kidding." The aforesaid are not erasors. Giggling and laughter after an offensive comment are not very good erasors either. You said it; that means it is in your heart. I offer 9 easy steps to improve our conversation skills: 1) Pray to God for grace in your speech 2) Don't gossip, or "dig" for gossip 3) Pray for the person to whom you are talking 4) Be a good listener 5) Ask appropriate questions 6) Be prepared by studying your Bible, also, be aware of what is going on in the political arena, the world of sports, entertainment, music and the economy 7) Love the person to whom you are talking 8) Be enthusiastic, but not phony 9) Do not allow your conversation to become a competition. Is conversation a competitive sport? Is it a match of egos? Be a good conversationalist. Maybe there are no awards, but there are plenty of rewards. There is much more on this topic.