Filters…

Today’s PrayerPoint ~ Filters

What do they do for us?

Air filters capture the junk we might end up breathing in.

What about other types of filters? You can filter what you might say by taking out the junk you might want to instinctively say — similar to an air filter. Or if you are talking about pictures and altering the way something looks you can use a variety of filters on Instagram to convey a mood. You can simplify or distort with little effort. What about the filters we use when we watch an interaction (and maybe read more into it than is there) or when we are listening to someone speak and we hear words of condemnation when they really weren’t intended in such a manner.

Have you noticed when you have a certain sensitivity that it makes its appearance in many situations? Maybe that is your filter? Sometimes filters add and sometimes they take away. I think we all have a history of interactions and many of them do come up from the depths at the least expected times.

FILTERS:

* Need to be changed or cleaned regularly

* Protect the air we breathe

* Can slant how we hear or view things

* Alter reality in subtle and not-so-subtle ways

If we would use a filter before we speak what could it do for us? What could it do for others?

Filters help a very verbal person like me have less regret for what I say.

What about using a filter when we LISTEN?

Do we hear what exactly is said? Do we add or subtract based on our history? Do we filter out any positives because we are determined to hear the negatives?

Filters can help my relationships not be exasperated but they can also skew the truth. There is always a level of filtering we do when we hear and when we speak.

As you go about your business today, think about how your perspective and experiences might filter the way you see and hear things. If you are the type of person who finds yourself with many verbal regrets consider pausing before you speak and put a filter in place. Not everything we think needs to be spoken!