What Did You Just Say?

         My Father was never what you would call a "spiritual" man but in his latter years seemed to be drawing closer to God.  Every now and then he would come up with a saying similar to a proverb.  they were short little phrases  that had a lesson in them.  One of them went, "It is better to be thought of as a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."   It probably didn't originate with him and maybe many people have heard it before.   For me, it was one of the things that Dad taught me that I have never forgotten.  Proverbs are good to give one a highly valued lesson in life.  One teacher once said that the Book of Psalms shows our relationship with God and the Book of Proverbs shows our relationship to our fellow man.  James 3:7-8 says, "For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison."  
      I am fascinated with words.  I am intrigued by the different meanings that words have and how they are used in communicating to someone else.  How we use those words is sometimes good and sometimes bad.  Perhaps you have had an occasion where you said something and then just wished you could get it back, but you can't.  There may be a person standing in front you with a perplexed or hurt look on their face and you can't get the words back.  You can't jump in your time machine and back up 5 minutes.  You said it and it is out there.  There are some phrases that people immediately throw out there to try to soften the blow, such as "Oh, I was only kidding."  In some cases, after you have said something, others might say or think, "He really is a fool."  You can't get it back.  James reminds us that the tongue is a difficult member to tame.  James reminds us that we are capable of taming almost every animal but can't even tame our own tongue.   When in a certain situation, we can't refrain from saying something that will reflect our own pride and our arrogance.  So, what are we to do?  Well, my Dad had another proverb that went, "Put your mind in gear before you put your mouth in motion."  We might simply say, "Think before you speak."  To have the knowledge that our tongue will get us into trouble should be enough incentive to be careful, but we go on anyway and say things that should not be said.  If you want to say something, try praising God for the things that He has done.  For the last several years, I have always tried to end our little devotional thought with a phrase.  So, Praise God today for His working in your life.  Praise Him for His goodness and mercy.  Praise Him for sending His Son to provide a way for you and I to spend eternity with Him.  Just Praise Him.