I’ve recently participated in a couple of masterclasses. One was focused on identifying your primary communication style. The other was to help you discover what makes you tick.

I found both to be fascinating as I’m sort of a “self-reflection” geek. Anything that can help me “peel the onion,” I’m there.

One would think that at my age, I should have a pretty good sense of myself, yet here’s what I am discovering. Sometimes we paint a picture or believe a story about ourselves that simply isn’t true. Or perhaps it was true for a time, but in our current season, it doesn’t hold water anymore.

After taking the short communication style assessment, it turns out that I fell primarily into the “gold” category, followed by “green.”  The descriptions for the styles for these colors were:

“Courteous, inclusive, reliable, fair, persuasive, supportive, creative, inspiring, personable, engaging, connecting.”

So…will the real Jennifer please stand up!

Here’s what I learned from this exercise. Our ways of doing things change as we go through different experiences and are exposed to different people. What once worked may no longer work and if we are smart, we adapt. It’s called knowing your audience.

This was something that Jesus was a Master at. Wherever He traveled to preach and teach, He “read the room” and knew exactly how to encourage and educate His followers with a message that was right for them, that they would understand, and be able to apply to their lives.

How did He do it? Simple. He spoke with love. The basis for every word that He spoke was motivated by love and compassion for the people.

“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” (Matthew 9:35-36 NKJV, emphasis mine)

Jesus didn’t need to take a test to figure out His communication style. His style was love. Every word

 that came out of His mouth was dripping with love. And since we know that Jesus spoke the words of His Father, it goes without saying that God is love.

Do you see a theme here? God is love. Jesus is love. We are loved.

Our words, whether they are spoken amongst friends, family, the boardroom, or on social media, must be rooted in love.

Words spoken in love melt hearts and heal wounds.

P.S. If you would like to learn more about how to use your words to encourage and uplift others,  click here to watch or listen to the Elevate The Day podcast “There’s Power In Your Words.”