“The mind of the righteous person thinks before answering, but the mouth of the wicked blurts out evil things.” Proverbs 15:28 CSB
We are entering the dog days of summer, otherwise known as August. The heat is at its highest, the sun is at its brightest and the kids only have a few weeks of summer left before they head back to school. In honor of this very special time of year, we’re going to take a look at Scripture through the lens of a dog’s philosophy:
Listen More Than You Speak
Always Act Like You have a Purpose
Appreciate a Simple Life
Give More than You Receive
Be Happy with what You Have
Be a Best Friend
There is a lot of wisdom in those topics we can all use. Starting with thinking before you speak. An article titled “Think Before You Speak” by Shirley Vandersteen, Ph. D., R. Psych. Sums up the power of words beautifully:
“Your speech shapes your life. Time and again you find yourself in situations where the outcome depends on what you say and how you say it. Your words are a reflection of who you are. If your words are getting you into trouble, you’re showing others the very worst parts of you. You’re presenting yourself as being thoughtless, careless or just plain hurtful.”
What we say shapes who we are, it shapes what others think of us. Have you ever realized how much of your relationship with God is God listening to us? He listens more than He speaks. We hear people all the time waiting to “hear” from God. God is an active listener, He’s not an active speaker. I’m not saying He doesn’t speak, He absolutely does, but if you compare it to the amount of listening He does, listening wins. We can learn from His wisdom, we can become better listeners, less speakers. One way we can do that is by stopping and thinking about what we are saying or want to say. Often times, when we do this one thing, we’ll listen more than we speak. We realize quickly, what we want to say isn’t going to help the situation, only hurt it. We also realize, we can’t take it back once it is said.
As we kick off the Dog Days of Summer, let’s learn from Man’s Best Friend, God AND Dogs. Let’s listen more than we speak.
