Know your audience August 10, 2009

I happened to watch the Rachel Ray show one morning a while back (on my “day off”) at the gym.  On that episode she had a special guest who was helping people “makeover” their internet dating sites.  Apparently a lot of people were not attracting those people they had hoped to through their sites and one reason the guest suggested could have been because they weren’t effectively communicating with “the person” they were hoping to find.  They didn’t evaluate who their intended audience was before creating their sites and therefore their “about me” sites were ineffective.  I found this to be very interesting especially in light of the current sermon series Bill Simmons was guiding SpringWell Church through.  (I also found the statistics they presented about internet dating sites very interesting.  They said that more people meet online now than anywhere else!  But that’s a topic for another post.)

So this show got me thinking about the different ways I communicate depending on my “audience”.   When I’m speaking to my 4 year old I use a different language than with my 7 year old (not much but slightly).  Of course I communicate differently with my husband, Russ, than with my kids.  I know there are obvious differences in those relationships and I know who I am approaching when I communicate with them.  I hope & pray in my job at SpringWell that I can help our church communicate effectively with those far from God and encourage them toward a relationship with Him.

So as I mentioned above the show tied right into the sermon series in that in the first part of the series I was reminded that Jesus taught me how to communicate with God (that’s Prayer) by FIRST evaluating and recognizing WHO I’m approaching (Matthew 6:8-9) – know my “audience”.  Bill gave a great outline of the series which included some names of God which help me remember WHO I’m approaching when I’m praying.  Just knowing WHO my audience is will determine how I communicate with them. 

Because I know God is all that I need – I can be honest and approach him with thanksgiving, praise and requests for help & wisdom in ALL areas of my life.  How refreshing!  I don’t have to “create” myself before Him like the folks creating their internet dating sites do for their intended “audience”.  He is already all I need and I just need to communicate more with Him!

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