The Perfect (and Brief) Response

This year, I don't have much in the way of new year's resolutions.

I started exercising (again) last November. Not a resolution.

I've just ended a nine-year career in missions, ministry and church communications and am looking for a job. But I don't desire to spend my entire year looking for a job. Not a resolution.

But there are a few larger things that keep coming back to me. One of them is my responsiveness in my digital communications.

Here's the issue: Many times when I'm responding on a personal level, it's not that I don't respond or that I don't want to respond. Usually the issue in my delayed response is that I don't know how to respond.

I have friends who do this beautifully without a hitch, and I think, now that was not hard at all.

Or was it?

Communication in a digital world is mostly just words. No hugs or handshakes, no nodding head that says you're listening. For a person who loves to see people when they speak, it's a painful reality!

I ask myself, am I kind, gracious, forgiving, helpful, friendly, concise, loving? Am I what I need to be in my response?

...And am I brief?

I would love to hear how you decide what goes into a responsive email, a tweet, a Facebook post. And when your response requires something more than the regular one- or two-liner. Please leave your comments below!