Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
I love getting good news! Don't we all love good news? It lifts our spirits. It's always right on time and it gives us hope. Good news often measures how far we've come and gives us permission to give ourselves a break and a pat on the back. Sometimes we are so excited to speak of our achievements that we forget some people aren't in a position to celebrate along with us. Maybe their road is a little more bumpier than yours and they can't see beyond the traffic of sadness. Sometimes, it's hard for those individuals to share that same energy with you.Therefore, we should monitor what & how much we divulge to people. People knowingly & unknowingly can put a damper on your blessings.
Maybe you've been going through a tough time and you were a tad bit too expressive about what was going on and now people doubt you. "It's no way he/she is getting a job before me" is what you'll hear from time to time. It's almost like it's impossible that "you" of all people have something great going on for yourself. You feel awful that you just shared a very vulnerable but positive moment with this dear friend and now you're met with scrutiny. You were waiting on "congratulations" and got hit with everything but that. Now you regret opening your mouth. Here's two perspectives on why....
We all have a circle of friends, peers whatever you wanna call them that we confide in on a daily basis. Some of us foolishly confide in our peers everyday about any intricate detail of the day for conversational sake. I am going this place today. I am in the bathroom etc. I have done it & many others have done it. While this can be an innocent way to stay in contact, it can be quite dangerous especially when you have a lot of great things going on or on the way.
Divulging good news prematurely can open up wounds within a jealous or discontent person. You may have a unknowingly hit a nerve and now their way of striking at you is to discredit your good news. As a people, we sometimes look at the surface and long for what another person has. We don't always factor in how long or what it took for the person to get there. We just see a happy person in a happy state that we can't quite channel at the moment and we begin to resent them and what they have going on. We should be figuring out what their secret was and getting like them! Instead, we resort to being haters LOL. So instead of celebrating the person and letting them enjoy their moment, we tend to diminish their accomplishments and all they have going on to soothe the insecurities within ourselves. I am sorry but this is totally inappropriate. We must change how we view another person in a state of happiness or simply a person being proud of how far they've come.
I have shared things with people only for them to to question the credibility of my accomplishment, disregard it altogether or insult me by voicing how they're just "concerned that it won't work out". I always wonder, would this person like it if I were to respond to them in the same way? Would they like it if I stole their moment? Too many times I down played my life or myself and wondered why others were doing it too. I learned I must set the tone for how I wish to be treated. Matthew 7:12 So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
On the other hand, I have vented like a fool. Screamed from the top of my lungs my discontentment with how my life was not realizing that people were absorbing this. I was saying I was unhappy. I thought I was just being expressive. They were only responding to my account on what I thought life to be. My ungratefulness made it appear as if I had nothing good going on. It looked as if nothing was right so people has reason to doubt what was going on when I created an illusion of having less due to not knowing the word & being grateful for my circumstance. Because I had disrespected my blessings, I had also given permission for others to do the same. Matthew 12:36 — “And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak.” Jesus warns us that God keeps record of our words. What we say with our mouths matters to Him. Venting does not give us the right to disobey the Lord with our words. Rambling on, rehashing the event over and over again, or refusing to forgive and move on is one way we are speaking “idle words.” When venting becomes our pastime, we may have crossed a line from temporary release to permanent lifestyle.
I had reduced my own life to a never ending saga of strife. As I had grown, I had expected those around me to catch on. Soon, people were annoyed with my newfound positive attitude and didn't perceive it to be true as I had previously went on several hate crusades filled with discontent. I found myself feeling guilty or bad for not having anything negative to report to my peers that I started picking at myself to please them. If they said they were upset, I'd channel some sort of upset from my surroundings. After a full negative exchange of complaints, I then began to feel myself reverting back to that ugly space of being discontent with life.
Finally, God spoke to me through the very things I tried to down play. I would down play my home only for God to tell me " at least you have one". I would down play my job only for God to remind me that I am able to eat through this. For everything I once discredited, God reminded me how much of a honor it was to have in the first place. Once I understood that, I understood the importance of keeping all of my blessings sacred even if that meant not sharing. No matter dry or dull a conversation gets, I will never share intimate details on my life for people to dishonor or discredit the very things God has given to me. Should they still continue to discredit me, I will remind them how it is a blessing to be here on earth to have the chance(s) to get things right!
Thoughts?
*The featured picture is a Status/quote from "Troy Strother" A Maryland Therapist*
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