Because the focus in my life is encouragement, I have a harder time with admonishment, which means to caution or gently reprove. What I have found is that the oreo principle works really well when it comes to admonishment. I find that admonishment is most effective when it begins and ends with encouragement. Admonishment can use a little cushion, and encouragement can be just what is needed. I have noticed this with myself, that I can hear 5 compliments, and 1 negative comment, and my focus is all about the negative. It doesn’t matter that I had 5 times more compliments; our focus turns toward the negative. To keep that from happening with a godly admonishment, we have to have the big picture in mind. We know that the person admonishing us has our best interest at heart, and we know we are loved, and then we can receive it with a right heart, and make the necessary changes. In our world, receiving correction doesn’t generally come gracefully. We get mad, we blame others, we let our hearts get hard. None of this has to happen! Let’s love one another enough to point out blind spots. Let’s love one another enough to admonish one another to be the best person that God has called us to be. We can do this as we keep it real in relationships.