Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 83 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.
Learn to Shut Up (Part 1)
Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 83 of our Trek. Yesterday we determined that all of the magic happens between our comfort zone and the danger zone, which is call the learning zone. In order to gain wisdom, one of the most important habits we need to learn is to know when to not talk, or as I like to refer to it cure the dreaded disease called "diarrhea of the mouth."
We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. As we come to the end of another day, we have much to be thankful for. We had a good day of work, a positive eye exam, and a small group of friends over for dinner as we celebrate a major victory and blessing in the life of a close friend who has come through a major trial over the past 19 months. Although the trail ahead for our friend still has many twists, turns, steep climbs, and precarious slopes in the next few weeks and months, our celebration together this evening had us praising God for his leading during these many months.
Many of the outcomes of our trek of life are determined by the choices that we make each day. While we cannot always control the path that lies in front of us, as we take one step at a time, we can make choices that will help us to navigate through trails successfully. As we take each step, we can learn the lessons which each new trail brings to us.
One of the most difficult areas of our life to control consistently is the use of our tongue. We need to learn when to keep our mouth closed. Have you ever been with a group of people that you respect and you find yourself saying something completely out of place?  Have you ever spoken to a loved one or associate in a way that cuts them to the core, and as soon as it comes out of your mouth you think to yourself, "How foolish it was to say such hurtful words!"?  Our words can lift someone to the heights of heaven or plunge them into the very depths of hell.
On our trails today and tomorrow, we will first explore just how difficult but important it is to control our tongues, and then weave in 10 practical suggestions on when it is best just to shut up.  As mentioned from Day 0 of the Wisdom-Trek podcast, as a Christ follower, much of the wisdom that I have gained throughout my life comes from God’s Word, the Bible. It has much to say about how important it is to choose our words wisely and to limit our words to those that are helpful to others. Christ's half-brother James wrote several paragraphs about how difficult it really is to control our tongues, in his letter to the Jews that were scattered across the Roman Empire. In Chapter 3 verses 1-12 he wrote,
"Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.  Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.
We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.
But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God.