I can see their eyes glaze over at the moment I’ve talked too long. Sometimes they hint that I’ve gone too long– when they ask an unrelated question. One child has learned the subtle secret of changing the subject by asking a spiritual question. Other times they’re more blunt, “When are you going to be done talking?” Sometimes they simply sit in resignation until I’m finished.
When they were two, I found anything longer than two or three word sentences were almost always too much.
When they were three, I found I could get two or three sentences in.
I’m still finding that I need to stop sooner rather than later. I want to get everything in, and I really don’t have to teach everything in one lecture. Yes, I need to ask questions more, but I can even ask questions too persistently.
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
This is such a hard lesson for me. I’m a talker by nature and I foolishly think that by talking more and longer I will change a heart. It’s actually been the times where I have spoken little, but poignantly that I have elicited the most heart response. I wish I could remember this ALL the time!
It’s a hard lesson for me, too! Praying for you and me!