Huh, what?
Do you ever have days when you wonder why you say what you say? I do! Days when the words just seem to "pop out" without any forethought or 'governor' over them! I guess we all have those days if were were to be totally honest with each other. There are other days when I seem to drift into some kind of "daydreaming" mode and just drift along, not really there, but aware I should be. When I look at the end of the day I wonder why I just did not accomplish much, why my interactions with others didn't amount to much, or why things just seem kind of 'blah' in my life. At other times, I am so productive and accomplish much, every interaction is solid, and I end on an upbeat. Most would consider this kind of "up and down" behavior as a little bit of inconsistency - the actions don't consistently match the words or the intentions. True that! If you have figured out a way to always, 100% of the time walk in consistency....patent it! You will be rich! Most of us would buy it! It is important to have a guard over our lips and a guide for our activity.
Post a guard at my mouth, God, set a watch at the door of my lips. Don't let me so much as dream of evil or thoughtlessly fall into bad company. (Psalm 141:3-4 MSG)
Scripture frequently reminds us of the importance of having a "guard" posted at our mouths - either in direct command to do so, or in examples we can learn from when the "guard" has not been there. Setting a "watch" over the door of our lips might actually help us "filter" some of what we say! The idea presented to us is one of keeping our mouth under so close of a watch nothing escapes which should have "stayed in"! It goes back to the teaching of a wise counselor in my life: "Think about all you say, but definitely don't say all you think!" Do you have control of your dreams? You might if we were speaking of daydreams here. When we thoughtlessly drift into the daydreaming mode, we may not even realize we are there. Case in point - our morning commute to work. We can be over 6 miles into our commute before we realize we are deep into a "daydreaming" mode! While deep into daydreaming, we can pass 6 major stop lights, enter into flows of traffic moving at high speed, and even negotiate potholes, and suddenly got called back to earth by something like a bird flying across our windshield!
My daydreams are usually about improvements around the house which I'd like to make - some new things to add to the "curb appeal" of my home, or a project I'd like to start in the workshop, or even how to fix something that isn't working in a process or workflow in our job assignments. These are definitely not the wrong kind of "dreams" to have. Yet, my attentiveness to what I may be engaged in (such as driving to work) may simply not be consistently there! Whenever "dreams" take over, we have a tendency to drift from attentiveness into something called passive inattention. The danger in our lives comes in this area of "passivity". Our failure to evaluate the company we keep is also something that can be the result of 'not paying attention'. Scripture refers to it as "thoughtlessly falling" into bad company. Have you ever been dreaming in your sleep, then in a flash, you awake with a start? You felt like you had just fallen - like you'd stepped off a cliff and suddenly you are awake, heart pounding, breath coming in rapid gulps! The whole event of the dream seems real for a moment, yet you had no control over how you got to where you are right at the moment you awaken!
We choose the company we keep. We also choose the company we leave behind. It is a matter of choice - either active or passive. You may struggle with this concept a little wondering how you can passively make a choice. It is true - the opposite of active choice is one of passively having a choice made for you! We need a guard over our choices - one that will alert us before we make the wrong ones and will shock us back to our senses before we passively drift into ones we may regret later! So, Holy Spirit come! Guard our lips - close the door tight when nothing good is about to come out! Watch our words! Pull us back to earth when we are carried away in inattentive passivity. Guide our choices! We welcome your watchfulness over our lives! Just sayin!
Post a guard at my mouth, God, set a watch at the door of my lips. Don't let me so much as dream of evil or thoughtlessly fall into bad company. (Psalm 141:3-4 MSG)
Scripture frequently reminds us of the importance of having a "guard" posted at our mouths - either in direct command to do so, or in examples we can learn from when the "guard" has not been there. Setting a "watch" over the door of our lips might actually help us "filter" some of what we say! The idea presented to us is one of keeping our mouth under so close of a watch nothing escapes which should have "stayed in"! It goes back to the teaching of a wise counselor in my life: "Think about all you say, but definitely don't say all you think!" Do you have control of your dreams? You might if we were speaking of daydreams here. When we thoughtlessly drift into the daydreaming mode, we may not even realize we are there. Case in point - our morning commute to work. We can be over 6 miles into our commute before we realize we are deep into a "daydreaming" mode! While deep into daydreaming, we can pass 6 major stop lights, enter into flows of traffic moving at high speed, and even negotiate potholes, and suddenly got called back to earth by something like a bird flying across our windshield!
My daydreams are usually about improvements around the house which I'd like to make - some new things to add to the "curb appeal" of my home, or a project I'd like to start in the workshop, or even how to fix something that isn't working in a process or workflow in our job assignments. These are definitely not the wrong kind of "dreams" to have. Yet, my attentiveness to what I may be engaged in (such as driving to work) may simply not be consistently there! Whenever "dreams" take over, we have a tendency to drift from attentiveness into something called passive inattention. The danger in our lives comes in this area of "passivity". Our failure to evaluate the company we keep is also something that can be the result of 'not paying attention'. Scripture refers to it as "thoughtlessly falling" into bad company. Have you ever been dreaming in your sleep, then in a flash, you awake with a start? You felt like you had just fallen - like you'd stepped off a cliff and suddenly you are awake, heart pounding, breath coming in rapid gulps! The whole event of the dream seems real for a moment, yet you had no control over how you got to where you are right at the moment you awaken!
We choose the company we keep. We also choose the company we leave behind. It is a matter of choice - either active or passive. You may struggle with this concept a little wondering how you can passively make a choice. It is true - the opposite of active choice is one of passively having a choice made for you! We need a guard over our choices - one that will alert us before we make the wrong ones and will shock us back to our senses before we passively drift into ones we may regret later! So, Holy Spirit come! Guard our lips - close the door tight when nothing good is about to come out! Watch our words! Pull us back to earth when we are carried away in inattentive passivity. Guide our choices! We welcome your watchfulness over our lives! Just sayin!
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