Like this:

“Turn left in 600 feet on 52nd street,” the calm voice said from the GPS in my phone.

I was in downtown San Francisco trying to get back to a town up north where I was staying. The people with me were from the area but weren’t exactly sure how to get from downtown to the highway heading north.

“In 1,000 feet turn right on Lake Street.” It was very reassuring to have the GPS and gave me confidence I would make it out of the city and not just drive in circles all night.

The free GPS is one of the many features I love about my Motorola Droid cell phone. Before I got it I knew I would like GPS and thought I would use it some but now having it for several months I rely on it all the time.

Last week I was heading to a meeting in Portland and wasn’t sure whether the best route was to stay on I-5 or take I-205. I glanced at a map and then input the address in my GPS. While I was driving I noticed the GPS was taking me up I-5.

As I came to the 205 exit I thought about the map I looked at and it seemed the 205 route was more direct so I took the exit. What interested me was how I found myself expecting the voice to inform me I made a wrong turn. It simply accepted my decision with asking what I was doing or deriding me for not following its directions or telling me I was off course or challenging my decision to go a different way.

Of course, you say, it’s just a machine, it wouldn’t do those things. That’s true, but what struck me is how I need to be more like my GPS in my communication with others.

Sure if someone is about do something horrible wrong or life threatening I need to speak up, but what I thought about is how often when someone makes a decision or goes in a way I didn’t think was right I correct them, challenge them or make them explain all the reasoning. Especially in little things.

A pastor friend of mine said when he does pre-marital counseling he tells the couple if what your spouse says is at least 80% accurate you don’t need to correct them. I think that’s great advice.

That made me begin to think about how I need to do a better job when I talk to people, to speak words that are GPS – Gracious, Positive and Supportive.

The Bible has a lot to say about our words and how we communicate with others.

Colossians 4:6 tells us, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person.”

In Ephesians 4:29 we read, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

The psalmist encourages us by saying, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)

Proverbs 12:18 addresses this by saying, “There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, But the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

How important it is for me to watch my words as I speak to others. I can communicate the same thing in a Gracious, Positive and Supportive way as I could using negative and attacking words.

As this thought has been bouncing around my mind the prayer of Psalm 141:3 came to mind, “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.”

What a great reminder and challenge, to make sure I use my GPS – Gracious, Positive, Supportive words – when I talk with others.

That’s what’s been on my heart this week.

Mark

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