I recently had the privilege of volunteering to be a speech meet judge at my grandsons’ school. I sign up every year and really enjoy being involved as a judge. I am required to choose a grade other than one that one of my grandsons is in. I prepare ahead of time by studying the speech judging rubric of criteria used for evaluating each student. The rubric contains things to listen for such as voice emphasis, pauses, volume, articulation, and pronunciation. There are also body language items to watch for including eye contact, facial expression, gesturing, posture, body movement, and appearance. The speaker is to communicate with his/her voice and face. Deductions were taken for too many hand gestures. It was quickly evident which students had practiced their speeches at home often and with someone who coached them well. The students who did the best were intentional about eye contact and positive facial expression. They spoke clearly, calmly, and respectfully. As a judge, I felt obligated to give these students my undivided attention and listen with as much effort as they were putting into speaking. Judging students who had worked so hard and were trusting me and the other judges to judge them fairly was an honor not to be taken lightly.

Couples who come for counseling often say their primary problem is communication. Perhaps there are some things that could be learned from the speech rubric. (You can check it out on Google.) When we are speaking to the people we love, are we as deliberate and respectful as those students at the speech meet? You may be thinking . . .  “Yes but they knew they were being judged. They don’t always talk that politely.” This is probably true. And yet it is a worthy goal to work towards. People are watching and listening to us all the time. Also, as a listener, do we think it is a privilege to be entrusted with the words of someone’s heart? Do we listen quietly and respectfully? Do we give people, especially our loved ones, our undivided attention? Do we give them eye contact?

Eye contact communicates respect and attention. How many times do we try to multi-task. We think we can do many things at the same time. Make dinner, wash dishes, watch TV, play with our cell phones . . .  and also carry on a conversation. I know there are times when we must talk and do and the same time, but those times should be brief, basic, and infrequent. People who are important to us deserve our full attention and direct eye contact. I remember hearing a story about a little boy who was trying to tell his Mother something while she was busy. She was listening and responding appropriately, but finally he said to her, “Mommy, I want to talk to your eyes.”

Anyone who is important to us deserves eye contact. Email, texts, tweets, posts, phone calls, etc, only go so far. When the person or issue is important and we care about the relationship, we need to give them our full attention and talk to their eyes. This applies to God too. Do we intentionally give Him priority time and our undivided attention during each day? Do we spend time in prayer and in studying His Word. . . talking and listening to Him on a daily basis. Or do we send up a brief prayer while we are driving or doing something else. Is it possible to multi-task our prayer and Bible study time? I don’t think so.

We can pray anytime and anywhere, but the God of the Universe deserves moments of our day when we turn totally toward Him and give him our undivided attention. In the words of the old hymn by Helen H. Lemmel:

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face; And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith,

Easter Blessings,

Elsie