Relationships

"True service... can listen with tenderness and patience before acting.  It can serve by waiting in silence....

"There is a discipline in holding one's tongue that works wonders within us...

"Guarding the reputation of others is a deep and lasting service...

"There is a service in common courtesy ...  It is one of the few ways left in modern society to acknowledge the value of another... to acknowledge others and affirm their worth.  The service of courtesy is sorely needed in our increasingly computerized and depersonalized society...

"There is a service of listening...  The most important requirements are compassion and patience...

"To listen to others quiets and disciplines the mind to listen to God.  It creates an inward working upon the heart that transforms the affections, even the priorities, of life.  When we have grown dull in listening to God, we would all do well to listen to others in silence and see if we do not hear God through them...

"There is the service of bearing the burdens of another...  Love is most perfectly fulfilled when we bear the hurts and sufferings of each other, weeping with those who weep."
--Richard Foster, "Celebration of Discipline"

How can you serve better in your relationships this week?