Did you know that a good question is usually better than a good answer?

A good answer may provide valuable information for a particular situation, but a good question stimulates the thinking skills needed for circumstances when wise counsel is not available.

Perhaps more importantly, if your good answer is packaged with even a small amount of frustration, it will push a person toward the instincts of the brain stem: fight or flight.

The thinking stops, reaction prevails and any benefit of your answer evaporates.

If you want to raise children or cultivate employees who can make wise decisions and take responsibility for their lives, focus on good questions more than good answers. If you do, you will bless them as you follow the lead of history’s best at asking questions: Jesus of Nazareth.

~ Ken Horton

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a four-part series about questions.