Wear the Right Gloves This Instant!

It’s springtime. You’re getting ready to do some serious weed pulling in your front yard, so you hunt down your red, rough-but-tough gardening gloves and get to it.

Just a few weeks ago, you were getting ready to go skiing on the mountain. You slid on your ski pants, down jacket, beanie, sunglasses, gloves, and you were ready to rock.

Were these the same gloves you’re reaching for now, to do yard work?  

No.

Ski gloves are not gardening gloves. Nor are the khaki pants you wear to P.F. Chang’s the same pair of pants you’d choose to veg out in around the house while watching movies and eating popcorn.

Gloves, pants…you get the idea. One pair does not fit all. Context matters.

About two months ago, the mountain town I live in got hit with a 118-year record-breaking snow dump. And I mean dummmmmp. Go to bed with 4 inches of snow on the ground, wake up to two feet. And that was just the beginning. The snow continued falling for three solid days. And with it, my tears. (#SWFCan’tHackConstantShoveling)

As soon as the snow stopped dropping from the sky (leaving about three feet of the stuff standing tall outside), I was suffering severe cabin fever. A friend and I decided to go out to dinner.

I have a front-wheel drive Nissan Versa with Blizzak snow tires that could win awards for its efforts on the snow. My friend has an all-wheel drive Subaru Crosstrek. Guess which one we took?

A car with front-wheel drive, no matter how great the winter tires, remains a two-wheel drive vehicle. A Crosstrek, well, is a Crosstrek. There’s no comparison.

From the comfort or discomfort of wearing proper clothing (gloves, pants, etc.) to choosing the right vehicle to handle the terrain, if you choose the wrong thing, you pay the consequences.

Icy fingers. Stares from fancy-pants restaurant goers. Or sliding into a ditch and getting stuck.

You want to choose wisely. It’ll help you avoid discomfort, embarrassment, or putting your life on the line.

The thing is, when it comes to our words, we don’t suffer the consequences when we choose foolishly. Our loved ones do.

Have you ever been there for a grieving family member and said something you thought might help, but it actually made things worse? Have you ever heard a friend articulate the depths of his despair and offered a simple, trite, even flippant response? Have you ever wanted to encourage someone with Scripture and seen their countenance harden? (Lord knows, even the truth of His words can be ill-timed.)

It’s not that silence is the answer, but in every case, context matters. Increasing your EQ, empathy, and wisdom mean you wear the right gloves for the task at hand. 

Heeding context may save you from inadvertently offering gardening gloves to a snow skier. It may help you avoid telling your husband to wear pajama pants out to dinner. And it may save the lives of your passengers when you choose to drive the more robust vehicle in a snowstorm.

“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” —Proverbs 25:11 (ESV)

“There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” —Proverbs 12:18 (ESV)

“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” —Colossians 4:6 (NIV)