Double tapping verbally

Generally the words ‘Double tap’ are used with regards to shooting a target twice to ensure that it gets hit. This reduces the chances of the target not getting hit, such as in the sport of clay shooting. This principle can be applied verbally as well. Here the purpose is NOT to harm anyone. It’s just to make sure that you get your point through and the other person has no ambiguity about what you said.

In terms of travel by air, the pilots do this all the time. They will repeat themselves two or three times saying ‘Requesting permission to land. Acknowledge. I repeat. Requesting permission to land. Acknowledge’. Only when they get the permission from the airport do they then go the next steps related to the actual landing of the aircraft. Due to the critical nature of landing a place the pilot doesn’t assume that the air traffic controller is too wise to filter through dozens of other similar requests coming in from other aircraft pilots.

There are times people can understand you directly. However, some people don’t get the point right away. And then you get misunderstandings and what you intended to convey never goes through. This is where you use the double tap. A parent often uses this with the kids. Such as telling them twice to brush their teeth before sleeping or in a more contemporary sense telling them to get off social media after a fixed amount of time. Thought the parent might not even know what a double tap is, he/she is doing it already.

One can use the double tap in terms of relationships as well. For instance, a husband can tell his wife not to buy a certain perfume for herself if he is allergic to it. He can repeat himself and try to get to her to reply. Sometimes the wife may have either not heard or is not interested in his opinion. Yet, if he verbally double taps her chances are that she won’t buy the wrong perfume. This would save them both a lot of time which would otherwise be waste in arguing with each other and even grumbling about each other to people at work and church.

A wife too could do something similar. If she feels uncomfortable about her husband forgetting their wedding anniversary, she can just a few days before their anniversary speak to him about it. There she can say that so and so day is their wedding anniversary. That way the husband can reply back and acknowledge this. This would save them the huge fights that happen when the husband ‘forgets’ the wedding anniversary.

Now this double tapping is never meant to be a one way street. You too need to pay attention is someone is repeatedly trying to tell you something. Hear it and then act wisely. You don’t always have to agree in terms of human relationships but you can do act in wisdom always.

Someone might wonder, is this sort of ‘verbal double tapping’ consistent with the Bible. I’d say God himself has used this concept, though the Bible for the record doesn’t use the words double tap, it does use repetition (hope I got this grammatically right). Though the Lord God doesn’t double tap every time there are certain when times he repeat himself. This is to ensure that a person gets to the seriousness of the point the Lord is making. At many instances in Genesis, God kept reminding Abraham that his descendants would be numerous as the stars. Abraham was childless for most of his life, yet God kept speaking about his offspring so that it would inspire faith in Abraham. Also God spoke in favor of Sarah the wife of Abraham that she would be a child and he confirmed this many times. And yes, Abraham and Sarah were indeed blessed with their little son Isaac who later became the human ancestor of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you read the Bible very diligently, you will notice a lot of repetition of prophecy and commands to God’s people. One thing that has been repeated at various times and even in the New Testament is that God’s people do not harden their hearts towards God. You can refer to Psalm 95:8 and Hebrews 3:7-15 for your personal reflection. (I might do a detailed post on the specifics of those verses in the future)

So now what I’d like, is that you is that you use your ability to speak the same thing again wisely, so that you get your point through. Not everyone needs to be told twice, some get it right the first time itself (gladly enough). There certain people and certain things that need a double tap to ensure that things are conveyed in the right way and accepted accordingly. Do not limit yourself to only saying twice, say as many times as you need. Also pay attention to what God repeatedly tries to tell you. It will just save you a lot of time and effort, if you pay attention to what God tells you again and again.

Christ be with you!