Principles of Communication - (Part Three) The Real-Life Theatre

In case you haven't noticed, my blogging time is usually early in the morning, or late in the evening, or both. It's either the tail end of my day - or the tail end of my night. So if you come across evidences of this in my posts, just remember that 'love covereth a multitude of transgressions'. :P

So, if you've read the previous two 'parts', it's evident that I put a fairly strong emphasis on the foundational role that communication plays in relationships. Now it's time to take a little look at the role that relationships play in communication. All our communications, in this world and out of it, take place in one or more categories of relationship.

There's the category of strangers - better known as 'public relations' (PR).
There's the category of business relations.
There's the category of friends.
And there's the category of family.

'Public relations' is that area of general everything. We can't address the public personally and individually because we neither know them nor they us. For most of us however, because we're not newscast anchorpeople, PR occupies a fairly small portion of our communication, even though it comprises the largest share of of humanity. This category is the target of political sciences and all manner of other similar efforts.

Then there's business. (All of these categories are bound to overlap in some way, by the way.) Business relations are work relations. They may be people we work for, or work with. This category is more weighty than the first because we are handling people's money, and time, and goods. This is the category of communication where we need to be willing to 'put our money where our mouth is'. Believe me, business relations bring in plenty of problems every day that need to be resolved. It'll bring intimidating salesmen, irate customers - and also some great friends.

Friends. And this is where the relationship scale tips toward the personal side. Friends are great - they're people we share with, people we work with, and people we play with. Friends sharpen us - 'as iron sharpeneth iron'. And sometimes, friends even become family. :P

Oh yes, the family. This is the inner sanctum of all human relationships. This is the category of relationship where all comes to the test. If we thought 'putting our money where our mouth is' was easy, try putting our actions where our mouth is, and when we think that's easy- try putting our heart where our mouth is! We don't get away with anything, do we?
This is where all that talk gets tested in real life. We live together, eat together, grow up together, (or grow old together,) work together, play together, (fight together... might as well put that in there) - and we have all those witnesses to make sure we don't get away with anything. On top of it all, we have the complexity of honoring parental authority, and being an example to our siblings.

Sometimes we feel so confident, well-grounded, and articulate when talking with our friends - and then we face our parents and it all evaporates. Why? Because we have no covers! The more personal the relationship is - the more vulnerable we are to each other. But that vulnerability is an incredible blessing because it's what probes and proves us. It's where every one of us is going to have to learn the reality of relationships, and the elements of communication.

But there's one step even more personal than our relationship with our family, and that's our relationship with our Creator. This is vulnerability at the highest form - the creature before the Creator. We might be able to get away from our family, but we can't get away from God. Our family might know us, but God knows our hearts. He will probe us, and prove us, and more than that, He will cleanse us with burning live coals.


And then, we who were of unclean lips, can stand before Him, and say "Here am I; send me".