Good Morning,
A work day is upon me and I am ready for the challenge. I have prayed and am now sipping on a hot cup of Door County Mistletoe Mocha. It's still July and I am celebrating Christmas in July. At the end of the month the Christmas coffee gets stored away until December.
Proverbs 29:20 Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than him.
When I was a youngster I had the privilege of spending a lot of time with my grandfather. I sure enjoyed those weeks in the summer. We fished, picked berries and I sure learned a lot of lessons. In order to learn a lesson or forty I had to listen. On our way to and from our favorite fishing holes, Grandpa would point something out to me and maybe ask a question and then go on to explain what I was seeing. He spoke slowly, softly and made his point.
For instance while driving down a gravel road to one of our hot spots for fishing, he actually stopped the car and asked me a question. " How many times do you think we have driven over this upcoming hill this month" I said "I don't know, quite a few." He then asked, "when was the last time it rained?" I did know that there hadn't been any rain in about two weeks. Then he asked. "Have you ever wondered why this dry dusty road always has a wet spot on this hill?" In all honesty I had never noticed the wet damp spot about 3 feet in diameter in that road. I told him I hadn't. He made the point of telling me that there was a small natural spring within that little hill and that as long as he had traveled that road it never dried up. Now this lesson I learned about springs and how if I dug a little I could get enough sand filtered water to survive in the wilderness took about 15 minutes. I said grandpa spoke slowly at all times.
In my young mind I kept thinking that we were missing some fish that were biting and he could have said what he said in five minutes.
The more valuable lesson that I learned is that by speaking slowly he was taking time to think before he spoke. Thus at all times his words were measured, calculated for impact, and most always did not need to be explained again or retracted. In addition he was educating the family idiot and many of the lessons learned, I still practice today.
In the world we live in today, people often speak too fast, not thinking before they open the hole they shove cake into, and then spend too much time explaining, or rewording their statements. It is best to think before you speak. Thinking while speaking and to be able to make sure you are clear or to possibly avoid backlash, from a statement not well thought out is a good plan for peaceful living.
Food for thought on a Monday.
Marty
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