Wisdom Day 18 August 2016: Word Fast
Many words rush along like rivers in flood,
but deep wisdom flows up from artesian springs. (The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 18, Verse 4, The Message, BibleGateway.com)
My son Anton and I went once to the Anza-Borrego desert. We camped. We did not eat. We did not speak. Have you ever stopped talking for 24 hours or more?
Some fast from food. Some fast from talk. Some never, from either.
The more talk, the less truth;
the wise measure their words. (The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 10, Verse 19, The Message, BibleGateway.com)The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. (Quatrain LXXI, The Rubaiyát, Omar Khayyam)Even dunces who keep quiet are thought to be wise;
as long as they keep their mouths shut, they’re smart. (The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 17, Verse 28, The Message, BibleGateway.com)3–5 A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything — or destroy it!
5–6 It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.
7–10 This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue — it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! (The Letter of James, Chapter 3, Verses 3–10, The Message, BibleGateway.com)
I’ll never forget the desert and fasting from words with my son. Just sayin’.
Originally published at A. Allen Rowe, Ph.D..
