Proverb Eighteen;
2 Fools care nothing for thoughtful discourse;
all they do is run off at the mouth.
3 When wickedness arrives, shame’s not far behind;
contempt for life is contemptible.
4 Many words rush along like rivers in flood,
but deep wisdom flows up from artesian springs.
Social media and it’s online culture has been overwhelming me lately. To the point where I have considered carefully what I want to say and where I need to stay actively silent, not necessarily because I agree or disagree, but I refuse to debate in a forum that is so destructive.
Words.
They are so powerful.
The wisest women I know are measured by their words.
I am a verbal processor. I normally find my answers mid conversation or mid page of journalling. I process, I think, I debate, I discuss, I listen and I am enamoured with words.
Lately I have been learning however, the more I speak, the more I write, the more I am accountable to the weight of my words.
Whether we type them, speak them or text them, every word we form has power.
Do your words rush out like an out of control flooding river?
Or do they well up like an artisan spring filtered with layer upon layer of wisdom.
The more I see people shout from their keyboards, the more I wonder if they would say the same thing if they were seated on a platform in front of thousands. There is nothing like a crowd, a pulpit or a platform that helps us distill the depth and passion of our opinions.
How easy is it to debate online passionately, then when we see that person in flesh we shrink away with not much to say?
Kindness;
It is an ethical disposition, that asks us to place ourselves in the shoes of another before we act or speak.
What if kindness became the filter before we responded?
What if we were known by our words and how kind they were to another?
Kindness doesn’t mean we water down the truth, in fact the kindest thing we can do often is speak the truth, but filtered with wisdom.
I honestly don’t judge people by the percentage that we disagree on, but by the smaller percentage of what we do agree upon.
Proverb 31 is forming my devotional every day of July says this…
When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say, and she always says it kindly.
My goal this July, is to measure my words by this filter of wisdom.
1) Is what I am saying worthwhile?
2) Am I being kind?
If only we all stopped before we spoke, I believe the world would be a much healthier place.
To read Day Two click here: She Finds Focus
