A Simple Approach to Emotional Intelligence

REFERENCE:  Prov. 3:3-4 Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. 4 Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation.

Observation: Wow. Talk about emotional intelligence!! Simple kindness and loyalty is what will bring us favor with God and people, and it is what will cause us to have a good reputation. We know that this expresses precisely what we want from others; to have them be kind to us, especially when we are hurting, and for them to be loyal (a attribute that seems sadly lacking in our world--even among Christians). If that is what we want from others, it stands to reason that it is exactly what they need from us.

Application/Confession: It is so easy for me to be curt--to get to the point and miss what I am doing to people's feelings. I'm pretty good at being loyal, I'm not so good at always practicing kindness. I need to remember that it is a key to connecting heart to heart with others and even with God.

PRAYER: Lord, teach me how not to wait for others to be kind and loyal, but to serve as an example. You have promised favor with You and with people if I do. I commit myself to trying. I ask You to fulfill Your promise.