Don't speak out of your wound, speak out of your wisdom

Thursday, June 21, 2018

People are always looking for peace. They just don't know it.
I look for peace when life gets out of wack. The unexpected illness shows up. The friendship turns toxic. Family harmony turns to family hate. Life has a way of mixing all the pieces we carefully put together.

When such moments happen, we have the tendency of using our mouths. My advice is, "don't speak out of your wound, speak out of your wisdom." If you haven't arrived at wisdom yet, do yourself a favor and cultivate quietness until peace comes.

You and I probably spent a lot of time reading/watching/listening to people speaking out of their wound on social media and in real life. Here is what I do. If it is a close friend who will be able to receive advice, I discretely tell them they might want to reconsider their wounded words.

This habit of speaking out of your wound has become acceptable because it has earned the title of "real (add profanity here)." Somehow, watching people bleed while doing absolutely nothing to help them, has become an admirable character trait.

I went to a hospital today and I can tell you exactly what they would recommend if someone was bleeding. The first step is to stop the bleeding. The second step is to treat the cause of the bleeding so the person can heal.

We don't behave this way online. We have accepted the internet as the primary place to bleed (or vomit) while many applaud it without questioning the health of the wounded person.

What happens when the person speaking out of their wound is the one reading my words? The first step is to recognize you developed such habit. You need help. I am not implying that one should be fake online. I am advocating for wisdom to arise out of the deep hurts we all experience. If it can't help, it shouldn't be said. A close friend, a counselor might be a better audience for such words. There are always proper places for our words. Wisdom comes when we can discern where those places are.

Please don't think that you shouldn't say what you feel. My friend, you certainly can. Feelings were given to us for a good reason. I believe that sharing wisdom is more effective than sharing the wound only.

Let's get real (without the cuss words). I know that this post will not turn the internet into a wisdom-only place. Darkness will always be out there. The truth of Jesus compels me to believe that darkness will not overcome His light. We can all make a difference if we change our behavior. How do we do that?

We can use silence when the pain is working its way through our being. We can all take a break from  shiny screens so we can focus on the lessons learned out of pain. We can reach out to a person, in real life, that can benefit from our story.

If you are looking for peace tonight, be sure you take the time to find it. Reach out to a good friend. Turn off your screens for a while. Turn on your heart and know that God can redeem, restore and renew. Let's get to wisdom.