For the first time in years I’m attending the Global Leadership Summit sponsored by Willow Creek Community Church. It’s one of my favorite conferences to attend and it challenges and inspires me every time I go. What I didn’t expect was for it to challenge me in my marriage.
In his opening talk Willow Creek Pastor Bill Hybels discussed civility in the workplace and how leaders are the only ones who can make that happen. Hybels gave 10 steps on how to do that, and while they were all good, one of them pinned me to the wall: “Choose 5 or 6 words you know are like throwing a grenade over a wall and expunge them.”
I immediately knew God was talking to me about my marriage. One of the biggest escalators of conflict in my marriage is – um, shall we say – less than ideal word choices. Over my six years of marriage I’ve learned there are certain words I just can’t use in fights. I’ve learned the word “crazy” in literally any context has to go.
So this week I’m going to be thinking about what words I need to remove from my vocabulary. If I get brave I might even ask my wife (since she reads these I suppose I just did). I’d encourage you to do the same! Share this post with your spouse and have a conversation about unhelpful words that need to be off-limits in your conversations.
Fewer grenades are going to be better for everybody, and might even make those fights get resolved a little quicker.