Tuesday; October 1

There are times that I just want to go hide out for a while.  Depending upon my mood, I might want to head out in the woods or move to my remote island – but in all honesty, when I get to that point the location isn’t as important as the isolation.  While there are times when I get fed up with life’s problems, more often than not my desire for isolationism is based on a need for quiet.  We live in a noisy world – not just in volume, but in content as well.  It seems that wherever we turn people are using foul language, gossiping, being overly critical and just talking foolishness.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just figure out a way to moderate the noise in our world?
Interestingly, the Bible addressing this problem when it states, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” (Ephesians 4:29).  The answer to our noise pollution is choosing our words carefully.  It is using pure and encouraging speech.  It is found by saying those things that have real meaning and value.  It is speech born from wisdom and seasoned with grace.
We might not be able to hide out from all the noise in our world, but we can do a couple of things to quiet our lives.  First, we can monitor our own speech.  Remember, whenever we open our mouths we are not only talking to the other person, we are also cementing our thoughts by our words.  When we contribute to the noise through our own unwholesome talk, we drag ourselves down as well.  Second, let’s hang out with good people who are committed to good speech.  No, we can’t shut everything out, but we can control who we voluntarily allow into our lives.  Emotionally and spiritually healthy people can counteract the toxic nature of the rest of the world.
        Think About It!

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