Working on a farm teaches you a lot about life. Lessons that we would do best to learn at an early age. But here I am, at 41 years old learning about farming. It is teaching me more than just cows, hay, tractors, and all the other things you think about when you are discussing farming. I am learning life lessons each time I go out on the farm with my family. The lesson that I learned today was to keep my mouth shut. We’ve all been there…those times when we should have kept our mouths shut…both figuratively and literally. Sometimes our thoughts race in to our heads and we speak without thinking…those times when our spouse makes us mad, the kids are fighting, a friend says something negative to us, or someone cuts us off in traffic. Those times when we are surrounded by what seems to be a messy situation, we don’t keep our mouths shut, and the situation only gets worse. I was thinking of this today while pressure washing the inside of a VERY messy cattle trailer. You see where I am going here? There are times when you really should keep your mouth shut. Pressure washing the inside of a cattle trailer is one of those times. You learn very quickly that if you don’t keep your mouth shut, there are things that will fly in to it…things that we rather not think about or discuss…and those things are cow poop. Keep your mouth open, and eventually some cow poop will fly in. Sounds terrible, doesn’t it? Thankfully, I realized quickly what could happen, as it splattered on my face, and nothing flew directly in my mouth…but here’s the deal. There are times and situations when we open our mouths and the consequences are much worse than cow poop. We speak without thinking and inflict pain on others as well as ourselves. Words that we say can’t be unheard once we’ve said them…we can apologize, pray that the other person forgives, but they can’t just be “taken back”. Jesus said in Matthew 15:11 “It’s not what goes in to your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.” The book of Proverbs is full of reasons we should keep our mouths shut…”Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.” (10:19)…”Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything.” (13:3)…“Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.” (17:28)…”Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.” (21:23). So what should we do when faced with a situation where we really want to say something and don’t know if we should? If you don’t know if you should speak, then you probably shouldn’t. Pray and ask God for his guidance and timing to allow for things to be said, and He will guide you. James 1:19 “Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.” Just like in the cattle trailer, if you are surrounded by a big mess, you should probably keep your mouth shut.
