Daily Devotion: Clarity

J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, 1961. Source: Wikipedia Public Domain

Bible Reading: Psalm 51  

Key Verse: Verse 4 – “Against thee, thee only, have I       sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou     mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear     when thou judgest.” 

Key Words: be clear when thou judgest

If no one can understand what we say, then why say it?  Clarity of speech is extremely important.  If not, it leads to miscommunication…which leads to inappropriate actions.

J. Edgar Hoover ran the FBI, no question about it.  As a result, almost all of his subordinates were on the lookout for ways to impress their powerful boss.  A young FBI man was put in charge of the FBI’s supply department.  In an effort to cut some costs and impress his boss, he reduced the size of the office memo paper.  One of the new memo sheets soon ended up on Hoover’s desk.  Hoover took one look at it, determined he didn’t like the size of the margins on the paper, and quickly scribbled on the memo, “Watch the borders!”  The memo was passed on through the office.  For the next six weeks, it was extremely difficult to enter the United States by road from either Mexico or Canada.  The FBI was watching the borders.  Why was the FBI watching the borders?  They thought they had received a warning from their chief.  But they hadn’t.  They had transformed an innocuous comment into a solemn warning.  Clarity is important.

What to do:
✞ If it’s worth saying…say it with clarity.

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