Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
During a small group meeting at work, we were talking about change and how we feel about it and deal with it. It was a great conversation. During the conversation one of the individuals talked about an analogy he was told once. It really got me thinking and sounded a lot like me. I’m sure there are others who can relate as well.
We go out to a lake and have often seen ducks gliding effortlessly along in the water. They look so peaceful, especially when the water appears so calm around them. What we can’t see, just below the water level, are the small palmates (duck’s feet) frantically kicking back and forth to move the duck.
Thinking about this description I realized that is me. I try to appear calm on the outside. I don’t want anyone to know what is going on under the water, inside me. There are so many things that make me nervous, and I feel it throughout my body. But I try not to let anyone see it.
When you think about it, we are all like these ducks. We don’t want anyone to know what is going on inside of us. How nervous, upset, hurt, whatever the feeling is, we just don’t want anyone to know. We try to stay calm and hide it all. We need to remember that everyone we see as we go through our day has “stuff” going on. We don’t know what each person is dealing with or how things are affecting them, but we can give them grace.
God knows each of our hearts and knows what is going on in the deepest parts of us. He knows we are kicking frantically under the water just to move. He offers so much grace to each one of us. We need to do this for all those around us.
Give grace. The other person you are talking to is probably kicking frantically just to move forward. Just like you are.