30 DAYS TO TAMING YOUR TONGUE DAY 30

DAY 30 THE SILENT TONGUE

A man and wife were feuding and giving each other the silent treatment. One night the realized he needed her to wake him up at an early hours to catch a plane. Not wanting to humble himself and be the first to break the silence, he left her a not to wake him at 5 am. The next morning he awakened to find out that he had overslept by a few hours and had missed the flight. As he leaped out of bed to go angrily to confront his wife, he noticed a piece of paper on the nightstand. The note said “It’s 5am. WAKE UP!

Talking is absolutely essential to maintaining effective relationships. We all have heard the saying “Silence is golden”, but it is NOT golden when one uses it as a passive, retaliatory means of expressing his anger or displeasure with a situation. In fact, such silence is a direct violation of our Lord’s command to confront those who offend us. READ MATTHEW 18:15

Trespassing is an unauthorized crossing of a boundary. Many times we may feel we have been trespassed or wronged, but rather than discussing the issue with the offender, we resort to sulking and pouting. Women are especially prone to keeping silent,

Silence is not golden when we refuse to defend someone against unwarranted criticism or vicious rumors. We cannot let our fear of alienation or rejection cause us to allow slander and character assassination when we are well aware of facts to the contrary.

Silence is not golden when it results in us making an undesirable decision by default. After all, silence can indicated consent. Prayer was taken out of public schools in the US because the majority kept quiet and did not protest. Your silence gives consent to others actions.

A Japanese proverb states, “Silent worms digs holes in the walls.” To keep silent when on should be speaking is a sure way to dig holes in your relationships.

While keeping silent is a virtue in some situations, if we want to be a voice for the voiceless, confront personal issues, and fight for justice, we are required to speak up. The key is to always use our voices for the RIGHT purpose, at the RIGHT time and in the RIGHT manner.

READINGS AND REFLECTIONS

PROVERBS 31:8-9 MATTHEW 18:15    ECCLESIASTES 3: 1,7

1)               Those who have not developed good communication skills or who do not understand the importance of effective confrontation will often resort to the silent treatment. Recall a time when you failed to confront an issue directly and chose to use your silence as a means of retaliation.

2)              Thinks of a situation in which you spoke up on behalf of someone who could not speak for himself. What were the results?

3)              Recall a situation in which your silence implied you were in agreement with a certain course of action that you in fact opposed. What fears kept you from speaking up?