Posts Tagged: loving words

DTEB, “Things I Wish I Hadn’t Said”

On December 8, 2022 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“And so’s your mother!” I said rather loudly as I walked to my car after shopping at Kroger. I had intentionally parked my car far from the store in order to make myself walk a little bit. This part of the lot had almost no vehicles in it. But “almost no” means that there were some vehicles parked there. I didn’t realize that there was a large gentleman sitting in his pickup truck very close to me when I said what I said. Naturally, he had the window down. I figured that I had better explain. What did I know? He might be packing heat.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was talking to that crow that just flew over and cawed at me.” And then I added, “I probably shouldn’t have said that. I don’t even know that crow!”

Even when we think no one’s listening, we should be careful what we say, and even being unkind to God’s avian critters is not a good idea. I remember a story about a dad whose little guy (about four or five, I think) came out with the “f” bomb.

“Where did you learn that word?!” the dad demanded.

“From you, daddy,” said the little guy. His dad didn’t normally use bad language, but when he was working on his car, the adjustable wrench had slipped, and the dad’s tongue had slipped as well. He didn’t realize that his son was listening, but he was.

The worst part is that I had recommitted—just this morning—to memorizing Proverbs 10:19. Here is the Hebrew and my rather wooden translation.

בְּרֹ֣ב דְּ֭בָרִים לֹ֣א יֶחְדַּל־פָּ֑שַׁע וְחֹשֵׂ֖ךְ שְׂפָתָ֣יו מַשְׂכִּֽיל׃

“In the multitude of words, rebellion is not lacking,

And he who restrains his words is skillful.”

There are lots of words that need I need to restrain.  I am very fond of words and tend to chatter a lot. I have an addictive personality, which means that I tend to overdo everything, especially things that I love.

So, here is a partial list of some words that I could cut back on a great deal:

  • Putting myself down.
  • Speaking unkindly to or about others.
  • Explaining things that I don’t understand.
  • Trying to prove that I am right, and you are wrong.
  • Complaining.
  • Telling the same stories over and over.
  • Saying unkind things to crows.
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