“What we do always shouts louder than what we say.”

A short post this week. Short posts will be part of a series called ‘Short and sweet’. Look out for more of them in the future.

Franklin is generally attributed with a quote similar to the one above but this is my take on it. Sadly, many of us are used to people shouting at us: verbally, that is. However, it might be a bit of a shock to note that all of us ‘shout’: by our actions, every day to everyone that we meet.

The question therefore becomes: Is what I’m ‘shouting’ what I want to ‘shout’? People will hear our words; it’s our actions though that will speak the highest volume.

When there is a miss-match between words and actions then our lives aren’t congruent (in agreement). We want to walk-the-walk and not just talk-the-talk, as others have said and in a way that honours others and honours ourselves. (As a Christian, I want to honour God too.)

One of the saddest things I hear is the ‘Don’t do as I do, do as I say’ comment. What would it be like if actions and words were congruent? How much less stress; how much more honouring the other person, and ourselves, would exist; how much better all-round?

Words shouting louder than actions? What can you do about that?

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