Why is it we can never say what we really want to say when the opportunity arises. Why do we lie awake at night thinking of all the sparklingly witty things we should've retored when x said y and z earlier in the day.
I've tried a couple of times, but I can't even relate the incident that has fired me up for the cause of the tongue-tied. It has to do with the small Christian school I work for and the mother of one of my dorm boys. Suffice it to say I did not show myself to be a stunning orator in my conversations with her on a certain subject. I probably just made matters worse. It took me forever to get to sleep because I kept thinking of all the things I should've said.
I'll give a different example. In one of my college classes, long ago, an English professor (male) said, "People who are pro-life don't really care whether or not babies are dying. They're just trying to keep women from being able to make their own decisions." I was shocked and outraged, but I didn't say anything! Nothing! I just sat there in numb silence with my mouth open at his audacity. Suddenly, the moment was over and the class had moved on. There was no going back to the discussion. If you know me, you know I never hesitated to speak out in class. I was sort of infamous for it. Maybe it's better that I didn't. I did try to witness to that professor, as he and I usually got along very well and I was one of his more faithful students.
I guess that's where the leading of the Spirit has to come. There are so many times when we don't know what to say. If I were closer to God and more willing to follow his leading, would I have had the retorts ready for the two abovementioned situations? Paul tells the Colossians, "Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man." (Col. 4:6) Maybe I need to get in the word a little (or a lot) more, so that His words are my words.
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2 comments:
I know exactly what you mean. So many times I have thought of what I believed was the perfect answer long after the subject had been closed.
I think sometimes it is because the Lord wants us to keep quiet. Maybe it isn't the right time and the person is not receptive. Maybe we are not the right person to share that information.
I always think of the verse that says "there are none so blind as those who WILL not see, and none so deaf as those who WILL not hear.
There is a time for everything, and only Heavenly Father knows when that is.
Actually I just tried to teach my teenage dorm boys about that in devotions. We discussed how our life's purpose may never be obvious to us in this existence. Thanks for reminding me.
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