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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for April 8, 2010
“She Popped”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
The man could pick up a grape.
Big deal, right?
Well it was to him, considering the fact that he hadn’t fed himself in 19 years.
He was a soldier that tragically lost both arms, but now he has new cutting-edge electronic arms, and he can pick up a grape.
What’s the big deal about picking up a grape?
The big deal is all the calculations that must be made. For example, you have to squeeze the grape just the right amount. Too little and you drop it. Too much and you pop it.
That’s easy to do with our God-given fingers, but to do it with an electronic hand is a technological marvel.
So let’s call that physical discernment. Most people can easily discern what it takes to successfully pick up a grape.
Now let’s compare that to a more challenging kind of discernment: relational discernment.
We can handle a grape without dropping it or popping it, but can we handle people without dropping or popping them?
How is your relational discernment?
Can you discern how well you are getting along with people?
Can you discern how your words are hitting them?
Can you discern what matters most in your relationships?
For example, I knew a man who had no children, and he was against motorcycles. He said a motorcycle is a deathtrap on wheels. Then he said this, “If I had a son, and he bought a motorcycle, I would disown him.”
I questioned him about it, but he was serious.
Well if I had to grade that situation for relational discernment, I would give it an F.
Why?
Because he did not discern what mattered more, which was maintaining a relationship with his son. In that situation he lacked relational discernment. His miscalculations would have caused him to “drop” his son.
When our own kids were small, my wife and I had a challenge to our relational discernment.
Like most parents, we applied pressure to our children to do right and not wrong. That meant they got in trouble when they did wrong.
Now remember the grape. Apply too little pressure and it drops, apply too much pressure and it pops.
Well getting in trouble was too much pressure for one of our children, so when it looked like she was going to get in trouble, she popped, by which I mean she popped out a lie.
For whatever reason, the other kids were willing to face the music and get on with life, but not this one. She was going to lie and then lie some more if she thought she could avoid trouble.
This is where relational discernment came in. We looked closely at her reactions. We talked with each other about what she did and why she did it. We analyzed our parenting and made adjustments.
Discernment means being able to see the big picture, and our big picture in this situation was that our child would tell the truth. So we changed our parenting. We started saying something that we did not say to the others. We said, “Look, you aren’t going to be in trouble. Just tell us the truth.”
I wouldn’t recommend that line in most situations, but here comes the key word again: discernment.
Discernment is like a detective looking for clues. He observes and perceives and distinguishes.
That’s the way we deal with people, with discernment. We discern how to relate to people for the best long term results.
In First Kings 3:9 King Solomon prayed for one thing, “a discerning heart.”
A prayer in Psalm 119 says “…give me discernment…”
Proverbs 2:3 indicates that we should “cry out for discernment.”
Physical discernment comes naturally. We can all pick up a grape without dropping or popping it.
But getting along with people? That’s something we need to cry out to God for, and something we need to work on.
We could all use a little more relational discernment.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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