The question caught my attention....
"How do I know what I think until I see what I say?
What a provocative question to face early in the morning. I ran across it in some reading that I was doing late yesterday afternoon, and filed it for consideration today.
Writing and speaking are very interesting endeavors. Both require forethought and yet there are times when thoughts and statements appear "off the cuff" and strike like lightning on dry tinder.
"Off the cuff" comments are those words that have little or no preparation or forethought before they are delivered. They can be deadly or they can be redemptive.
Late Saturday night I stood on the sidewalk in front of the hospital and looked into the eyes of a young man who had just lost his father in a tragic unsuspecting death. I didn't know what to say. I tried to form words that would be comforting and encouraging and then words blurted out of my mouth before I had time to filter them.
I said, "He died of a broken heart." No forethought...no preparation..."off the cuff." And yet, they were the right words for the moment. I knew what I was feeling, but I couldn't squeeze words into conformity to the emotions that I felt.
"He died of a broken heart."
I didn't know that those words fit until I heard them. Now I think I know a little more about how to answer the question.
"How do I know what I think until I see what I say?
Maybe Thomas Merton was right when he said..."Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived."
Things would be vastly different for people if they ceased trying to solve the problems of life and begin to enjoy the mystery of life.
Ahhhh! I'm livin' in the mystery and lovin' it!
1 comment:
Today, I was watching MAD MONEY w/ Jim Cramer. My 11 yr.old daughter came into the room & sat down by me & listened for a few minutes. Then all of the sudden, she got up to leave the room, and as she walked away she said, "I don't get it! [referring to the context of the show] It just sounds like a bunch of words."
At first I chuckled...she can't begin to fathom what all that stock market mumbo jumbo means. But then, it made me think... how many times do words come out of my mouth that are just "words" and have little forethought or preparation or meaning. I remember Paul's charge to "not let any unwholesome words come out of your mouth" and am convicted to be more thoughtful before I speak.
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