Welcome back frens!

There comes a time in everyone’s life where we have something figured out that someone else may struggle with. In a perfect world, the struggling person would realize that they’re struggling and come to you for help, but we don’t live in a perfect world. Offering critique to frens can be a road so difficult to navigate that you may be tempted not to begin the journey, but I believe that if it’s done with the correct intentions and with the correct spirit, that it can help everyone involved! I hope today to help frens navigate the art of offering critique to other frens so that we can all help each other grow.

The first thing one must look at when giving critique is whether it’s truly necessary or not. Sometimes frens may have a method of doing things unfamiliar to us, but that will work perfectly well when seen to completion. So when we open our conversation, we should always ask what they’re trying to do and how they plan on accomplishing that goal. It’s also important that we question ourselves about our motivations; are we just trying to come off as a big ol’ smarty pants, or are we genuinely concerned about our frens and trying to help them? If we’re genuinely trying to help our frens, then them having a different way of accomplishing something than us will not be a big deal, and may even help us to look at the issue in a different light! But if we’re just trying to show them how smart we are, we may get tempted to look down on them and scoff at the new ideas. If they are truly struggling and don’t have a plan that you believe will work, however, it’s important to correct them gently with a loving spirit. Remember, there was a time when you didn’t know about the issue, and you had to learn one way or another; either by experience or by someone teaching you. Coming from a high and mighty place may put them off and make them give up, which doesn’t help anything.

Fanks for reading frens, I lubs you all!

Verse for the week: Proverbs 15:31-33