Unshackled Moments ~ May 2 ~ Keyboard Cuffs Part I

Friday morning as I went through the things that I do to start my day, I came to the realization that I needed to make an amends, and it needed to be public, because the wrong had been done publicly. I let my inaccurate feelings and wrong conclusions cause me to express my dissatisfaction with a company that actually hadn't done anything wrong. But I found myself with a dilemma. My Facebook is public, and I'm still figuring Twitter out, so I don't really know how many people might have seen my post. It may have been as few as five of six, as judged by interactions such as likes and comments, or it might have been much more. Finally, I came to the conclusion that a minister who puts his thoughts, teachings and advice out there to the public should also be able to admit publicly when they're wrong and lead by example of how to respond when we slip up, so even though I had not made the original post as part of anything related to Unshackled Life, and it was placed on my personal pages, I used this platform to proclaim my mistake and to try to use my failure as an object lesson. That process became the UM I Suck, Nerdblock Rocks.

The thing is that I would have come out of my anger relapse a little less embarrassed and not having to try to figure out a way to ensure that more people saw the yard work than saw me throwing my garbage on my lawn if I had remembered a little gem that has been so helpful in avoiding looking a fool and making amends. When it comes to reacting rightly rather than rashly and self discipline, "nothing pays off like restraint of tongue and pen." - Bill Wilson

My mother would be quick to put it another way. "4:29.:" She has reminded me and others who grew up in our church of the importance of watching what we say but quoting Ephesians 4:29 so many times that now she doesn't have to quote the scripture, only the reference to correct a wayward tongue and attitude. For those who didn't have my mother as a youth leader,

Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.

Another of my go-to verses on this idea is Colossians 4:6 -

Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

Nothing pays off quite as much as restraint of....fingers? Fingers are the hardest thing to tame? It doesn't have quite the same ring, because to try to modify the scriptures and wisdom regarding the tongue to typing on a keyboard is missing the point. What I am doing, silently, at this moment, is exercising my tongue. I may not be saying anything with my mouth, but using the keyboard is the same as using a pen or mouth. From the heart we speak, and speaking is our words, whether we speak it, sign t or post it. The words we say can help or hurt, heal or harm. The words we say can draw people to the light of truth or beat them into retreat from the hope of His love. We can show the grace of God to live a new life or show the foolishness of our old nature. We can show our powerlessness over anger and fear or the ability of God's peace to direct our thoughts and expressions.

We really need to taste our words before spitting them out, especially in a public permanent forum. Let us not mix bad words with our bad mood or allow our resentments, frustrations and fears choose our words for us. But let our reactions be full of grace so that our answers to those who wrong us draw them to love, grace and truth rather than beating them away with law, judgment and condemnation. Let us learn restraint of pen  and tongue and posting can make all the difference in the world between looking a little like Jesus and a ranting lunatic. Words can bring life or they can cause death. Choose life. Show as much restraint of keyboard as the tongue, perhaps more so, since words spoken are easier forgiven than forgotten but words written may stand longer than our lives.

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