Honor | It’s a heavy word. A word filled with so much opportunity. A word bursting with love and meaning.
I have a friend who shared a recent conversation/argument they were having with their fiancé. The exchange was hurtful, leaving a recovery scene of fear and pain – anything but honor.
Similarly, I was in my office last week when I overheard a staff member sharing how they were hurt by another employee’s comments about them that they heard through the grapevine.
Without giving a lot of thought to our words, we create an environment that does not promote honor. How and why does this happen? I do not believe that’s anyone’s intent. It’s not like you wake up and say to yourself, “Today I am going to extend hurt instead of love… ” That doesn’t happen in the world I live in, yet the reality is our homes, car and corridors at times leave a residue of dishonor.
Today, it would be awesome to put honor back on top of our lists. I even told my young, soon-to-be-married friend that if I had to do it over, I might tattoo “honor” on my wrist before my wedding day. Beyond my marriage, the permanent reminder to show honor to the ones I love and who God has entrusted and surrounded me with seems like a great idea.
What is honor? Honor is focusing on admiration & respect in all we do. Here are some thoughts that might be helpful:
- Compliment early and often – Esteem those deserving publicly and privately
- Be patient – Remember that “slow to speak…” blog from Sunday?
- Ask questions and show interest – Actually appreciate differences and opposing view points
- Overlook mistakes and comments
- Use the Acronym THINK in your thoughts, intentions and actions – Is it True? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind?
- Forgive quickly
One of my favorite coaching messages for myself and others is to “always wear the white hat,” stand above the comments you know aren’t real, but are full of emotion and a pain generally not rooted in the truth. If you like Michelle Obama, then her famous quote, “When they go low, we go high,” comes to mind.
Let’s outdo each other with HONOR this week.
Michelle’s quote is my FAVORITE!