Tapsearch Com EditorWhen your mouth is working overtime
The following is by Terry Pluto, top sports writer with the Cleveland Plain Dealer who also comments about general and spiritual personal matters. - Apr. 2009
How many times to you wish you just could stop talking. I know I have - and took this article into my psyche by Terry Pluto. It can help us all when we know our mouth is working overtime.... And when we say things we wished we have never uttered.
By Terry Pluto......
There is a jerk who lives inside me. Just ask Rick.
The other day, he approached me as I was on the Stairmaster at a health club. We are not close friends, but we work out at the same place and get along great.
He mentioned an event that I was supposed to attend, but we disagreed about when it was. Instead of just accepting that there was a mix-up about the dates, I lashed out at the poor guy. I told him why he was wrong, why I was right and demanded to know why we were even talking about this.
All along, I kept hearing this quiet voice -- I say it's the whisper of the Holy Spirit -- saying, "Just shut up, already."
One of my favorite verses is from Proverbs 10:19: "When words are many, sin is not absent. He who holds his tongue is wise."
But my tongue kept wagging. I should have been flagged for verbal piling on.
Then I remembered the New Testament book of James 3:5-6: "The tongue is a small part of the body but it makes great boasts, consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire. ... It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire."
I hate to think of how many relationships I have needlessly burned with my tongue.
In that same third chapter of James, he writes: "All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. ... With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse men who have been made in God's likeness."
After I attacked the guy at the health club with a verbal jackhammer, I began telling him my troubles. Remarkably, he was patient with me -- even wondering aloud if he said anything to ignite the outburst.
The only thing he had done was interrupt the mental pity party where I was the honored guest.
About 20 minutes after my eruption, I apologized to him.
He said, "I've never seen you like that."
I said, "It's in there. I hate it when it comes out."
I did nothing to stop it. I wanted to vent. I had the RIGHT to vent, because I was having a very long and difficult day. It was a very selfish move on my part, assuming my feelings matter more than those of anyone else.
He's a great guy and forgave me.
We talked about some things in our lives. We both had recently dealt with having people close to us in the intensive care units of a local hospital. His situation had recently concluded and was even more discouraging than the one that I'm facing.
I later thought of a story told me by the late Ron Grinker, a famed NBA agent. A devout Jew, he said he once heard a sermon in his temple about 12 people in a room. Each was asked to pack all of his or her problems in a bag, then put the bags in the middle of the room.
( Many years ago, I prayed to take over the anquish of a person who was going through a very difficult ordeal. The Lord seemed to have given me my wish and I started sensing the terrible anquish of my friend and by 12 noon I had to call off the deal I made. )
"Then each person was allowed to open all the bags and pick one to carry," he said. "Nearly everyone was surprised at how much trouble each person had. Nearly everyone picked their own bag of problems because they didn't seem so bad after all."
That's something to remember the next time the Inner Jerk wants to be heard.
How many times to you wish you just could stop talking. I know I have - and took this article into my psyche by Terry Pluto. It can help us all when we know our mouth is working overtime.... And when we say things we wished we have never uttered.
By Terry Pluto......
There is a jerk who lives inside me. Just ask Rick.
The other day, he approached me as I was on the Stairmaster at a health club. We are not close friends, but we work out at the same place and get along great.
He mentioned an event that I was supposed to attend, but we disagreed about when it was. Instead of just accepting that there was a mix-up about the dates, I lashed out at the poor guy. I told him why he was wrong, why I was right and demanded to know why we were even talking about this.
All along, I kept hearing this quiet voice -- I say it's the whisper of the Holy Spirit -- saying, "Just shut up, already."
One of my favorite verses is from Proverbs 10:19: "When words are many, sin is not absent. He who holds his tongue is wise."
But my tongue kept wagging. I should have been flagged for verbal piling on.
Then I remembered the New Testament book of James 3:5-6: "The tongue is a small part of the body but it makes great boasts, consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire. ... It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire."
I hate to think of how many relationships I have needlessly burned with my tongue.
In that same third chapter of James, he writes: "All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. ... With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse men who have been made in God's likeness."
After I attacked the guy at the health club with a verbal jackhammer, I began telling him my troubles. Remarkably, he was patient with me -- even wondering aloud if he said anything to ignite the outburst.
The only thing he had done was interrupt the mental pity party where I was the honored guest.
About 20 minutes after my eruption, I apologized to him.
He said, "I've never seen you like that."
I said, "It's in there. I hate it when it comes out."
I did nothing to stop it. I wanted to vent. I had the RIGHT to vent, because I was having a very long and difficult day. It was a very selfish move on my part, assuming my feelings matter more than those of anyone else.
He's a great guy and forgave me.
We talked about some things in our lives. We both had recently dealt with having people close to us in the intensive care units of a local hospital. His situation had recently concluded and was even more discouraging than the one that I'm facing.
I later thought of a story told me by the late Ron Grinker, a famed NBA agent. A devout Jew, he said he once heard a sermon in his temple about 12 people in a room. Each was asked to pack all of his or her problems in a bag, then put the bags in the middle of the room.
( Many years ago, I prayed to take over the anquish of a person who was going through a very difficult ordeal. The Lord seemed to have given me my wish and I started sensing the terrible anquish of my friend and by 12 noon I had to call off the deal I made. )
"Then each person was allowed to open all the bags and pick one to carry," he said. "Nearly everyone was surprised at how much trouble each person had. Nearly everyone picked their own bag of problems because they didn't seem so bad after all."
That's something to remember the next time the Inner Jerk wants to be heard.
