Think of your words as a kind of product, something you hope to sell to someone else. Most products begin their lives in the Engineering Department—that's where the original concept and design are developed. But once the original design is complete, the product leaves Engineering and goes to Marketing—that's where decisions are made about how the product should be packaged.
No successful product jumps directly from the Engineering Department to the retail shelf. Imagine breakfast cereals in brown paper bags, or perfume sold in a jelly/ jam jars. Impossible! For some products, such as cosmetics and perfumes, more money is spent on the package than on the product it contains. The product spends more time in Marketing than it does in Engineering. Why? Because in the real world, books are always judged by their covers, and perfumes are sold by the appealing curves of their bottles', just like pantyhose are sold because their package is shaped like an egg instead of like everyone else's boring box. When it comes to the success of a product, packaging is almost everything. Strangely, however, when it comes to communication, the packaging is often ignored. If you think of your words as a product, that product should begin its life in Engineering—that's where you think of the idea you'd like to get across. Once that idea leaves Engineering, it OUGHT to head directly to Marketing—that's where the idea is given its look and feel. Paul encourages us to speak the truth in love. In communicating with those in our lives, truth should supply the content, and love should supply the package. All of us need to become packaging experts because in communication, as in manufacturing, packaging is everything.
So many people are out in the world are yelling "choose love", “Build bridges, not walls!”, or “We need unity!!”, which is a great message, YET the more they yell and scream, the louder the yelling gets, the more extreme the demands and wailing for you to LOVE! DON'T JUDGE! LOVE! DON'T JUDGE! LOVE!, the content no longer matches the packaging they originally put out. When one disagrees with the way things are being presented, often bridges get burnt, those exact same bridges they first yelled should be built. Its then labeled as hate, negativity, or even bullying...but wait, aren't we supposed to choose love, not judge and be united?! Now there is food for thought. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
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.
Its not only important to actually taste your words before you speak them out, but evaluate the force in which you spit them out with. Determine your goal of the words. Is it to truly speak loving truth or simply to place blame for what you feel is wrong with the world? After all, words are just that...WORDS. As the saying goes, "You will catch more flies with honey, then you will with vinegar". If I truly want to deliver my message of choosing love effectively, then its important to actually be living it, not screaming it at others. Sometimes words aren't even needed at all, but to simply just live by example and model the love that is needed.
You can disagree with someone and still treat them with complete love and respect, anything less just causes division. Make sure that the product your claiming as a "must have" is what is being demonstrated on the "packaging". It's just a better technique and will raise your over all "sales" volume, without having to raise your audible volume.
"If we could change ourselves, the tendencies of the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change toward him...we need not wait to see what others do" ~ Gandhi or as most recently his words tweaked to "Be the change you wish to see".
