James 3:5-6 See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.
If you have trees in your yard, and they are deciduous trees, now is the time for raking. I have two trees in my front yard that are tremendous leaf producers! It is a fairly major project to take care of them. I’ve tried many methods but the best seems to be mowing them into big piles, raking them onto a tarp and dragging them back to the field behind the house. The farmer has already harvested so it’s a good place to burn the leaves. But I have a fear. I never light those piles of leaves on fire without the unsettled feeling that somehow I will start a fire that covers acres and acres of that field and causes all sorts of damage.
Usually I do operate from a ‘worst case scenario’ (WCS) type of mindset. I’m not referring to pessimism. Just considering the worst outcome of whatever I’m about to do. I only wish I was better at this WCS mindset in other areas of my life! Some people leave a difficult moment having said nothing, and later think “I just didn’t know what to say.” But some of us, unfortunately, are rarely without some snappy comeback. We too often operate from a mindset of “I’m going to give them a piece of my mind!”
Oh how I wish I could take back a word here or there! I’m sure all of us can think of times where we had our say, and maybe were even right or justified. And yet that word was the spark to a fire that burned out of control leaving ashes and devastation far beyond the situation that started it.
Whenever I have given someone ‘a piece of my mind’, I have also invariable given them a portion of the ‘peace of my mind’. It’s not a good trade. You can’t un- say something and they can’t un-hear it. Once it’s out there, it’s out there. And after we loose it, our enemy Satan uses it in ways we never intended or could have imagined.
Lord, help me to be offended a thousand times over, rather than spark a fire with long unforeseen consequences!
Blessings,
Pastor Russ
